THE LIFE OF THE 
REV. JOHN WATSON, D.D. 



"IAN MACLAREN" 

THE LIFE OF THE 

REV. JOHN WATSON, D.D. 



W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 



NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

1908 



TR qf3, 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Coo:es Received 

NOV U 1908 

^opynent tntry 



XXc, NO. 



iLASS 



Copyright, 1908, by 

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 

Published, November, 1908 



TO 
MRS. JOHN WATSON 



" I'm apt to think the man 
That could surround the sum of things, and spy 
The heart of God and secrets of His empire. 
Would speak but love — with him the bright result 
Would change the hue of intermediate scenes 
And make one thing of all theology." 



PREFACE 

Of Dr. Watson it is most true that " no man is able 
to show to those who knew him not what he was; no 
man could show this to those who knew him in a way 
that they would feel satisfying." His sympathy, his 
tenderness, his kindly humour were to those who knew 
him inseparable from his presence, and all attempts to 
describe or report him must be sadly inadequate. But 
for the friendship with which he honoured me and for 
the love I bore him, I have done my best. There is 
nothing in this book which is not strictly truthful and 
based on indisputable authority. I have thought it 
my duty to set him forth as he was, and to give his own 
views as nearly as possible in his own words. It will 
be seen that on important points he differed seriously 
from the majority in his own Church, and it was 
thought by many that he sometimes fell into deep in- 
discretions. I do not agree with this view. His " indis- 
cretions " were merely the frank statement of his dif- 
ferences. He would never allow himself to be miscon- 
ceived, and while he had the greatest patience with the 
opinions of others he firmly maintained the right to 
assert his own. 

I have had throughout the most valuable co-opera- 
tion of his son Mr. Frederick W. Watson, B.A., who 
has helped me largely in almost every part of the book. 
If these pages do not reveal John Watson as a man of 

vii 



viii PREFACE 

many gifts, of large and generous nature, of un- 
wearied fidelity and service, and above all as a devoted 
minister of the Church of Christ, I have completely 
failed. 

Cordial thanks are due to many friends who have 
given their aid. My obligations to Mrs. Stephen Will- 
iamson ; to Principal Oswald Dykes ; to Vice-Chancellor 
Dale; to the Rev. Dr. C. F. Aked; to the Rev. R. C. 
Gillie; to Mr. John Lee; to Sir Oliver Lodge; and to 
Mrs. De Home Vaizey are very great. 

Hampsteao, September, 1908. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 
I 
II 
III 

IV 



VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 

X 

XI 

XII 

XIII 

XIV 

XV 

XVI 

XVII 

XVIII 

XIX 

XX 

XXI 



PAGE 

Early Days 1 

The University 32 

New College, Edinburgh .... 41 
The Ministry — Logiealmond and Glas- 
gow 61 

His Ministry in Liverpool — Preach- 
ing 80 

Pastoral Work 110 

Public Work 131 

Home Life and Foreign Travel . .137 
"Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush" . .155 

First Tour in America .... 176 

Work in Liverpool 198 

Second Visit to America .... 208 

Westminster College .... 234 

The Boer War 248 

Moderator 259 

Later Years 266 

Conversation 288 

The University of Liverpool, and Later 

Correspondence 309 

Resignation of Sefton Park Church . 325 

Last Visit to America, and Death . . 339 

Conclusion 359 

List of Works 367 



IX 



CHAPTER I 

EARLY DAYS 

The personality of John Watson was complex and 
many-sided. I am convinced that the best helps to the 
understanding of it are the facts that he was a Celt, 
that his ancestry on the mother's side was Roman Catho- 
lic, his grand-uncle being a well-known and influential 
priest in the Highlands, and in particular that more 
than most he was acutely sensitive and responsive to the 
environment in which he found himself. 

Without unduly anticipating what is to follow, the 
Celtic character of Ian Maclaren's nature may be briefly 
indicated. He possessed all the leading characteristics 
of the Highlander, for he was a Jacobite, he was fiercely 
patriotic, and he was superstitious. A few words may 
be added in illustration of these points. He was a Jac- 
obite through and through, and like his Roman Catho- 
lic blood, so this Jacobite strain came to him through his 
Highland mother. He could bring all the weight of his 
logical mind to bear on the question. He could lay the 
claims of the Stuarts in shreds, but his heart always 
prevailed, and it was his love of that sweet Scots song, 
" There grows a bonnie brier bush in oor kailyaird," 
which furnished the name to his most popular book. 
The Jacobites wore this flower as an emblem of their 
cause. " I chose this title," he said, " because the sug- 
gestion of the book is that in every garden, however 



2 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

small and humble, you may have a flower. . . . This is 
the whole idea of my writing, to show the rose in places 
where many people look only for cabbages." He had a 
great love for the old Scots songs. He would be 
strangely affected by such as " The Earl of Moray," a 
special favourite of his, and " Wae's me for Prince 
Charlie," and one with the lines 

" He turn'd him right an' round about. 
Upon the Irish shore. 
An' gae his bridle reins a shake 

With Adieu for ever more, my dear. 
With Adieu for ever more." 

'He considered this the saddest and most beautiful of 
tunes. In this he showed the strong vein of romance and 
melancholy of the Highlander, who is moved to tears by 
the tales of long ago. It was difficult for him in his 
books to avoid some reference to the '45. We hear of it 
in Kate Carnegie, and even in that unromantic study of 
The Scot of the Eighteenth Century he cannot help 
mentioning the Rebellion when he says : " In my posses- 
sion I have a Theophrastus printed in Greek and Latin 
in the seventeenth century, which came down to me 
through the eighteenth century, when it was carried to 
the Rebellion in the pocket of a Highland chief, so that 
on his march to restore Prince Charlie he might read the 
chapter ' De Desperatione,' and I am bound to say there 
has also come down to me with the Theophrastus a silver 
Quaich or drinking cup, with which the worthy Chief 
would refresh himself when weary, without stopping to 
drink at the brook." He sometimes spoke of writing a 



EARLY DAYS B 

novel on the '45 period, and his collection of Stuart 
books was of a very beautiful and costly nature. 

He was extremely patriotic, and always had a great 
affection for the Army. He used to tell how he played 
truant at Stirling School to watch the Highland regi- 
ments drilling in the fields below the Castle, for his an- 
cestors were either soldiers or farmers. Among his early 
recollections was one of pictures in the Illustrated Lon- 
don News giving some of the scenes in the Mutiny. All 
Scotland rang with the exploits of the 78th Ross-shire 
Highlanders, who had followed Sir Colin Campbell to 
the relief of Lucknow. When that regiment returned 
home, it was ordered to Edinburgh, and was publicly 
reviewed in the Queen's Park. Watson's father thought 
that the boy ought to be taught patriotism, and that his 
memory should be stored with a recollection of mighty 
deeds. For weeks before this review he told his son the 
history of the Highland regiments, from the days after 
the rebellion of 1745 on to the Crimean war, and espe- 
cially he aroused his enthusiasm with the description of 
the long marches and gallant deeds of the 78th as they 
went to save the women and children from death. He 
was taken to Edinburgh and never forgot the scene. 
After the 78th had left the ground they marched before 
the hotel in Princes Street where the Empress of the 
French was then staying, and she, who had seen many 
soldiers, declared that she had never looked upon a 
stronger or more martial body of men. As they passed 
that day in company, and as soon as the General 
had returned their salute, the people up and down 
the line burst into cheers, crying " Well done, 



4 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

78!" "You saved the women and children!" "The 
Highlanders for ever ! " Then it was that the boy's 
heart — he was only eight — gave way and he wept. 
Even the processions in which he took part gave, I imag- 
ine, quite a pleasurable sensation to his dramatic and 
poetic mind. It was largely through his influence that 
the Liverpool Scottish Volunteers were incorporated, 
and as Chaplain he was one of the keenest members. One 
only had to see him marching behind the battalion mop- 
ping his brow, but full of delight in everything, to real- 
ise that the divine, the novelist, the public speaker were 
for the time gladly put in abeyance. In the period of 
the South African War he was full of enthusiasm. He 
preached sermons on Patriotism which made a very great 
impression in Liverpool, and influenced many young 
men to volunteer for active service. I believe he was 
more proud of his son going to the front than of any 
achievement of his own. His address to the Volunteers 
was not the calm exhortation of a modern divine : it was 
more the harangue of a Celt in whose mind Scotland and 
the deeds of ancestry were supreme. And then, as their 
fortune ebbed and flowed, but for the most part ebbed, 
he became greatly depressed, and on opening the paper 
one morning, and seeing the terrible disaster to the 
Highland Brigade at Magersfontein, he flung the paper 
down. " Oh, dear ! " was all he said, but he scarcely 
spoke that day, so near to his heart lay the fortunes 
of his race. Patriotism with Watson was not a brag- 
gart jingoism. He steadfastly taught with Regnault, 
that a true patriotism means a serious, pure, and hon- 
ourable life. 



EARLY DAYS 6 

He was superstitious, as his mother was before 
him. She would turn the carriage home again if a 
hare crossed the road. There can be no doubt that 
there was a distinct strain of superstition among his con- 
nections. When he was Hving in Logiealmond Free 
Manse, he had a housekeeper who worked for him during 
the day and returned in the evening to the village, leav- 
ing him alone. One night he said he heard footsteps in 
the room above. They came downstairs very slowly, 
halted before his door a moment, then continued down 
to the kitchen. Although feeling somewhat nervous, 
he opened the door and called " Martha," wondering 
why his housekeeper had stayed so late. He received no 
answer, and went downstairs. No one there. He 
searched the whole house. Every window and every 
door was locked, and yet he says he was working, and 
in no way sleepy. 

On another occasion he heard a tremendous crash in 
the kitchen like the falling of a great number of dishes. 
He hurried down, but everything was in its place, and 
the room was cold and empty. He believed thoroughly 
in the supernatural nature of these strange occurrences, 
and had a fervent conviction of the reality of spiritual 
communications. Though he did not tell his stories to 
every one, he would relate to some that one day he felt 
an uncontrollable desire and anxiety to see a friend in 
Glasgow. Believing thoroughly in the mysterious im- 
pulse, he journeyed north without delay, and was in 
time to speak to his friend before he died. While visit- 
ing one afternoon, he suddenly had a strong desire to 
see a certain member of his congregation. It seemed 



6 LIFE OF L\X MACLAREN 

absurd, however, to yield to tliis vague feeling, because 
it meant a long and perhaps useless walk in the opposite 
direction. He resisted it for some time, but at last sur- 
rendered his will, and turned and reached the house. 
" Oh, Dr. Watson, how extraordinary, and how fortu- 
nate ! " the lady of the house said. " My daughter is 
taken suddenly very seriously ill, and she has been terri- 
bly anxious to see you, but of course we knew that you 
would not be at home." He had some curious compact 
with his mother which was made on her death-bed, and 
he firmly beheved that he was in touch with her all 
his hfe. He called it his mother's Tryst, and said 
that this influence had been a great bulwark against 
temptation. 

The inquiries of his friend. Sir Oliver Lodge, and the 
Psycliical Research Society, of which he was a member, 
moved him to the profoundest interest. He consid- 
ered the veil between the two worlds to be very thin. 
Along with his friend, Henry Drummond, he studied 
the subject of hypnotism at Edinburgh, and within two 
years of his death he was making a close investigation 
of patients under hypnotism in the consulting rooms of 
a scientific doctor. Spiritualism interested him, I think, 
not so much from a scientific, as from a rehgious stand- 
point. Though Watson did not trouble sceptics with 
his spirituahstic yiews, he was unusually intolerant on 
the subject, and did not hesitate to describe the people 
who sneered at Spiritualism as ignorant fools. I may 
add that the shadow of early death brooded over his 
most intimate talk and letters, and that amidst the 
crowding engagements of his prime he seemed to be very 



EARLY DAYS 7 

conscious that all these wanderings were drawing to- 
wards the inevitable rest. 

John Watson's Roman CathoHc ancestry made a fac- 
tor not to be ignored in his life. He never, so far as I 
know, had any sympathy with the sacerdotal theory of 
the Latin Church; indeed in almost the only public con- 
troversy he ever undertook he set himself to the demoli- 
tion of that theory. All the same, as we shall see, the 
asceticism of the Roman Church had a strong fascina- 
tion for him. He thoroughly believed in the sincere 
Christianity of Roman Catholic priests and people. 
Sometimes in moments of doubt and perplexity his heart 
went back to the Churches where the faithful were peace- 
fully singing the Hallelujah of the Resurrection as to a 
last inviolate sanctuary. He was once in a Roman 
CathoHc church in Italy. Before the altar to the Vir- 
gin there was a woman, her lips moving devoutly in 
prayer. As she was making her way to the door after 
ending her devotions, Watson asked her in Italian some 
question about the points of interest in the building. 
By and by the conversation turned upon the differences 
between the Roman Catholic and Protestant religions, 
especially in regard to the fact that Protestants do not 
address prayers to the Virgin. " Don't you ever pray 
to the Mother of God? " " No," said Watson, " for it 
seems to me that all you find which is holy and helpful 
and adorable in the character of that most revered and 
beautiful of women, all that and infinitely more I find 
in her Divine Son." " Yes, sir," she said wistfully, " I un- 
derstand that, but you are a man, and you do not know 
how a woman needs a woman to pray to." " My dear 



8 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

good soul,'* said Watson very gently, " yes, 3^es, I under- 
stand. I think I know something of a woman's heart, 
of a woman's needs. I take back all I said. Forgive 
it, forget it. Do not let an^^ word of mine stand be- 
tween 3^ou and 3'our prayers to the Mother of our 
Lord." On Sunday evenings in Liverpool when he had 
completed his hard and honourable labour he delighted 
in the company of Roman Catholic priests, and some 
of them, like Father Day and Father Castle, were among 
his warmest, most appreciative, and most beloved 
friends. Catholic mysticism alwa3^s possessed for him 
a great and holding charm. 

Never was a man more susceptible to the atmosphere 
around him. He simply could not live in a hostile air. 
He could be overborne by views of religion which in fact 
were not really his. Though he had plenty of courage, 
and could stand by a losing cause, his thoughts did not 
flourish in inhospitable soils or chilling winds. For liis 
work he needed the warm and sunny consciousness of 
s^nnpathv. He could face contradiction and opposition, 
but not the steady en\dronment of antagonism. It fol- 
lowed that when he was pla^'ed upon by crossing 
influences his real power was to a considerable extent 
paralysed. 

Though John Watson prided liimself on his Scottish 
ancestry, it was his fortune to be born at ]Manningtree, 
a little old-world village in Essex, on November 3rd, 
1850. In this he was the victim of circumstances. His 
father was a Receiver of Taxes and became in the end 
Receiver-General of Taxes in Scotland. When his son 
and onh' child was born he was stationed at Man- 



EARLY DAYS 9 

ningtree, pleasantly situated on the banks of the 
Stour at a point where it broadens into the estuary 
which has Harwich at its mouth. Manningtree has 
a population of only a few hundreds, a large per- 
centage of whom derive their livelihood from sea- 
faring occupations. But the child remained only 
a very short time in the place, and was never 
influenced by it. The preacher whom he most ad- 
mired, Robertson of Brighton, had as father and 
mother Scots of very old family, but Robertson was 
mainly aff'ected by his English environment. Watson, 
on the other hand, though his great work was done in 
England, considered himself a Scot of the Scots. " I am 
a pure Highlander," he once confessed to an admirer. 
" My mother was a Maclaren and came from Loch Tay, 
and spoke the Gaelic tongue. My father was born at 
Braemar, and Gaelic was the language of my paternal 
grandfather." 

At about four years of age Watson was taken back 
to Scotland and lived with his parents at Perth, where 
later he attended the Grammar School. His father, so 
far as is remembered, was a somewhat stern, methodi- 
cal Scotsman, a devout Free Kirk elder, not without 
some sense of humour, but of too grave and business- 
like a nature to be attracted very greatly by the ludi- 
crous. A servant of the Government, he was most par- 
ticular that no word disparaging either to his Queen or 
employers should be permitted in his presence, and every 
Sunday the toast " The Queen " was drunk with much 
grave loyalty. John Watson followed his father in ad- 
hering to the Conservative side in politics, though he 



10 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

took little part in the political controversies of his day. 
Watson's mother possessed an extraordinary gift of 
mimicry, and a keen sense of humour. It was from her 
that he inherited his power of story-telling and repartee. 
Many a time his father endeavoured to check apprecia- 
tion at the successful mimicking of some pompous per- 
sonage whose peculiarities and mannerisms had formed 
the subject of her sport immediately after his departure. 
A splendid and fearless horsewoman, she accustomed her 
son to ride from infancy, and in spite of the expostula- 
tions of her husband, and sometimes, though more tim- 
idly, of her child, she mounted him on the wildest of farm 
colts. 

Of Watson's boyhood in Perth, Mr. G. A. Mackenzie, 
his schoolfellow and oldest friend, has most kindly writ- 
ten to Mr. Frederick Watson: — 

I fancy we got to know one another from the fact of our 
families being near neighbours and of his father and mine 
being fellow office-bearers in St. Leonard's Free Church. 
We lived then in No. 10 Marshall Place, Perth, and Mr. 
Watson first at No. 19 and afterwards at No. 4 Marshall 
Place. I find that Mr. Watson was ordained a Deacon 
in St. Leonard's in 1855, so that your father and I must 
have known one another from the time we were about five 
years old at least. I was about six months his senior. We 
were together when we were very small at a Ladies' Board- 
ing School where young gentlemen of tender years received 
the elements of education. I have no very definite recollec- 
tions of what we learned, but I remember one class of 
*' Useful Knowledge " which we thought very amusing, and 
he used to " chaff " me for getting as a prize, The Little 



EARLY DAYS 11 

Child's Book of Divinity. The good ladies — some of whom 
still survive — have been lifelong friends. Whenever your 
father visited Perth, he made a point of calling at the 
old School, and I know he was warmly welcomed and 
pointed to as an example of all the virtues. From the 
Misses M *s establishment, we passed to Perth Acad- 
emy, and he has chronicled our experiences there in Young 
Barbarians. 

We usually spent our Saturdays together, and I was 
always particularly keen to make out that it was my turn 
to come to his house. I suppose this is the way of children, 
but I think it also indicates that Mr. and Mrs. Watson were 
very kind to young folks. Of course, we played all sorts of 
children's games together, and I remember especially the 
attraction of some splendid " bricks " — wooden blocks for 
building houses, and all sorts of wonderful erections. The 
special charm was to build a castle which, if our architec- 
ture was successful, was topped by a pinnacle carrying a 
red silk flag. There was also a magic lantern which was 
exhibited on very special occasions, and I think John was 
usually the exhibitor, assisted by his father. It was the 
first magic lantern I had seen and left a very vivid im- 
pression, although I think now, with all the modern im- 
provements, it would be considered a very poor affair. 
John had a canary which was kept in a brass cage, and 
sometimes as a great treat we were allowed to see the 
canary having a bath. We moved in 1858 to No. 1 Athole 
Place, and the principal amusement when he came to my 
house was playing " keerie " in the back green when my 
brother and sister joined us, and sometimes having an en- 
campment under big trees at the far end of the back gar- 
den. In wet weather we had " hide-and-seek " indoors, 
and one of the last times I saw him he recalled how once 
we were certain that somebody had hid in a particular 



12 LIFE OF L\X MACLAREN 

closet because the door, when pushed open, always quietly 
swung back, giving the impression that there was some 
one behind it. Sometimes we had evening parties at one 
another's house, and there is a tradition in our family 
that John, who was rather a delicate child, used to be 
carried along by his nurse rolled up in a warm plaid. 
On arrival he was deposited in the hall, and carefully 
unwound. 

I have been trying to remember what our story books 
were, but I can recollect nothing except The Swiss Family 
Robinson, Peter Parley, and Men that have risen. The 
Swiss Family must have made a deep impression, because I 
remember among our favourite haunts a place at the top of 
the South Inch which we dubbed " Falcon's Nest," where 
we attempted to reproduce the most vivid incidents from 
that story. I can point out the place to this day. ^Mien the 
weather was good, we used to have frequent excursions to 
" Cragie Knowes " and the " Woody Island." The latter 
figures largely in Young Barbarians. I should like to say 
here, however, that in that book, as in all his tales, it is 
impossible to identify real characters. He had too much 
good feeling to paint actual portraits, although those fa- 
miliar with the scenes in which he moved, and the people 
he met, knew that his characters were drawn from life. 
For instance. Dr. Davidson, the minister of Drumtochty, 
is in no sense the portrait of the parish minister whom 
he knew at Logiealmond, or of any parish minister who 
was ever there, although he told me he had in view a par- 
ish minister whom he met in his boyhood and for whom 
he had a great esteem. In the same way, while the scene 
of Young Barbarians is laid at Perth Academy, many of 
the characters, both masters and boys, are, I fancy, taken 
from his life at Stirling. 

I must not omit to mention a great expedition which I 



EARLY DAYS 13 

made with him to Kinross and Loch Leven. Your grand- 
father, as you know, held the post of Collector of Customs 
at Perth, and in the discharge of his duties had to pay a 
yearly or half-yearly visit to Kinross, On the occasion 
referred to, Jolm and I were to accompany him. I re- 
member well the excitement of my having to go the night 
before from Athole Place to Marshall Place to sleep, in 
order to be ready for an early start in the morning. We 
drove in a waggonette by the Great North Road through 
Bridge of Earn and Damhead to Kinross. The *' Col- 
lector " held his collection in the Inn on the main street in 
the town. We boys supposed we were very helpful in 
counting the cash paid by the various small merchants and 
old wives who took out licenses to deal in tea and tobacco, 
and after the business of the day was over and the books 
closed, we all sallied forth to the shore of Loch Leven, 
where we spent the afternoon. That was my first visit to 
that historic scene and made a very deep impression on 
my mind. 

Watson, who had a humorous way of depreciating 
himself, used to describe himself as averse from study, 
retiring, and slow-witted in his cliildhood. His father 
once threw a book at his head, and remarked with much 
frankness that " of all the stupid blockheads he stood 
alone." While at Perth he paid frequent visits to his 
maternal uncles, the Maclarens, who farmed their own 
land near Blairgowrie. In fact till the end of his col- 
lege days he was accustomed to return during holidays 
and vacations to the farms, and in this manner acquired 
not only a knowledge of the country, but a great love 
for farming, and a desire to foUow that profession. 



14 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

His friend, the Rev. Dr. D. M. Ross of Glasgow, 
writes : — 

In the summer of 1871, it was my good fortune to have 
many a talk with Watson. My father was a near neighbour 
of his uncles Archibald and William, who were successively 
tenants of the farm of Grange of Aberbothrick. There was 
a good deal of coming and going between the two farms, 
especially when the two students were at home for the 
summer holidays. Watson had by this time " discovered " 
Dr. Barty, the parish minister of Bendochy, who supplied 
him with many a touch in his subsequent portraits of the 
Scottish parish minister. He had also " discovered " Dr. 
Baxter of Blairgowrie, whose evangelical earnestness struck 
deeper chords in his nature; what with his characterisation 
of the sayings and idiosyncrasies of ministers in the neigh- 
bourhood, of farmers at market or at roups, and of plough- 
men in the fields or in the bothies, and with his never-end- 
ing sallies, he made the tea-table at Grange or Leitfie a 
lively centre of wit and merriment. Now and again, his 
father, courtliest of men, would intervene with an " O 
John!" 

Much of the colouring of the sketches of Drumtochty 
was borrowed from the Grange, and from the farms of his 
other uncles a few miles off in the neighbourhood of Blair- 
gowrie. For example, within a short distance of the Grange 
is, or rather was, for a bridge has now been built, the Bar- 
mondy ford in the river Isla. In my boyhood, a horse and 
cart with the driver were swept into the deep water below 
it and were lost. Watson told me in later years that this 
incident had coloured his description of the crossing of the 
Drumtochty ford. 

He had a minute knowledge of the details of farm work 



EARLY DAYS 15 

and farm life, long before he became minister of Logie- 
almond. It was on the large farms of Strathmore he got 
his insight into the seamy side of the life of farm-servants 
and the extra hands employed in harvest time, and in potato 
lifting I believe that he several times acted as paymaster 
for the casual labourers on behalf of his uncles, and was 
thus brought into close contact with them. His experience 
of their moral laxity was, I believe, exceptional. With ref- 
erence to this experience, he said to me in later years, that 
if he were to depict some phases of rural life, as he had 
known it. The House with the Green Shutters would have 
been considered, in comparison, a flattering portrait. The 
occasions for the abuses he deplored were absent on the 
smaller farms in the Logiealmond district. But if in his 
literary sketches he idealised life on a Scottish farm, this 
was due not to ignorance of the grim realities but to his 
high conception of the moral functions of literature. 

My mother and he were greatly drawn to each other. In 
later years when he had become famous, he never missed 
a chance of calling upon her, and it was a joy to him to get 
a clap on the shoulder from one who had known and liked 
him as a young lad. With that tender thoughtfulness which 
was characteristic of him, he sent her a beautiful little letter 
of congratulation on her 87th birthday. 

It happened occasionally that he and I rode together or 
drove about the country in a gig. One drive I recall. He 
was at the time under call to St. Matthew's, Glasgow. We 
started from my home to drive to Glenisla and climb Mount 
Blair — a distance of fifteen miles. We had to put up our 
horse at the farm of Abrick (on the lower slope of the 
Mount), owned and tenanted by a well-known godly man, 
Mr. John Mackenzie, an esteemed friend of Dr. Alexander 
Whyte. We had to introduce ourselves, the one as a min- 
ister of the Free Church, the other as a divinity student. 



16 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

(This was in 1877, when the Robertson Smith controversy- 
was just beginning.) Before the good man would have any- 
thing to do with us, he put two searching questions : " Had 
ye ony whisky at the inn as ye came by? " " D'ye belong 
ti thae infidel young men o' oor kirk ? " Our reception was 
discouraging. But when I let it out that my friend was 
under call to be colleague to Dr. Samuel Miller, frigidity 
gave way to effusiveness. Straightway, Watson was deep in 
talk upon theological problems with the good man, and so 
prolonged was their talk that I feared we should never see 
the top of the hill. We did the ascent, and on our return 
to Abrick there was a bountiful " spread " for Dr. Miller's 
future colleague. 



One letter only survives from his earliest years, and 
I quote it: — 



Drumlochy, May 3rd, 1862. 

My dear Papa and Mama, — Uncle and I have been twice 
seeing Uncle Duncan, and found him pretty well. The 
first time that we went we took the lamp with us and it 
arrived quite safe: The second time the gingerbread cake, 
and we got some very fine sweet butter home with us, as 
aunt has none. 

I was down at Church last Thursday, being Aunt's fast 
day. We had the Revd. G. Stewart of the Free Middle 
Church, Perth, in the forenoon, and Mr. Crichton of Ar- 
broath in the afternoon, and from both we heard very good 
sermons. Uncle William has had a very bad cold and 
cough, but it's getting better. I have nothing but por- 
ridge and milk for breakfast, and I like them very much. 
Aunt and Uncle say that I am improving every day. We 



EARLY DAYS 17 

are all pretty well and all join in warmest love to you all. 
— I am. Your ever affectionate son, John Watson. 

PS. — You need not alarm yourself about Uncle, as he is 
almost well. 

It will be observed that Watson was brought up under 
the ministry of the Rev. John Milne, of St. Leonard's, 
Perth. Mr. Milne belonged to what was known in Scot- 
land as the M'Cheyne school. This was made up of men 
who were noted for their sanctity and their evangehstic 
zeal. Milne left his ministry in Perth to become a mis- 
sionary in Calcutta, and after an interval returned to 
his old church. His life was written by Dr. Horatius 
Bonar, and he has been most felicitously described by 
the Rev. Dr. John Hunt, Vicar of Otford, Kent, and 
author of many important books on the history of theol- 
ogy. Dr. Hunt, who in his early years attended Mr. 
Milne's church, says : — 

We have said that Mr. Milne's ministry was successful. 
He had no great gifts of intellect; he had no eloquence; 
his learning was not extensive; in fact, his reading seems 
to have been unusually limited. What, then, was the secret 
of his power? We might say at once it was that he 
preached religion rather than theology; and he lived what 
he preached. If he did not know the difficulties that beset 
men who think, he yet knew the wants of men in general. 
He knew the power of sympathy, and he knew that the 
story of the life and the death of Jesus will reach men's 
hearts to the end of time. And then he had mastered the 
evil that was in himself. No one ever knew him to be angry. 
Even his wife could only once remember any approach to 



18 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

hastiness, and it was when the servant had omitted to tell 
him of a case of sickness to be visited. He could bear 
opposition; he could suffer to see himself despised or thrust 
aside if any good came of it. He used to buy things at a 
shop in Perth where the shopkeeper was not civil to him. 
He was asked why he continued to go where his custom 
was not wanted; and he answered that he was trying to 
soften that man by kindness. He could not enter into the 
thoughts of men who are perplexed with the ways of Prov- 
idence, or have doubts about revelation, or who do not un- 
derstand revelation in the same way as he understood it; 
but he did not rail against them as atheists, infidels, neolo- 
gians, or sceptics. He knew that men were not to be won 
by hard names. Nor did he speak evil of Christians who 
did not belong to his own party. Writing to a servant in 
England who had been a member of his congregation, he 
said, " You must not despise the Church of England. If 
I know the Lord at all, it was in her that He was first re- 
vealed to me." In India he sometimes preached in the 
chapels belonging to the Church of England, getting a civil- 
ian or an officer to read the liturgy. His religion was not 
made up of certain opinions; it was a life. 

It appears that in his youth Mr. Milne had a fall which 
affected his head. How far this served as a thorn in the 
flesh to crucify him to the world we do not know: his zeal 
often seemed to surpass the bounds of reason. He refused 
to go into society where he could not make religion the sole 
subject of conversation. He was out of sympathy with 
what is secular or " worldly." In some company, when a 
favourite Scotch song was sung, beginning ** There 's nae 
luck aboot the house," Mr. Milne said it was only true of 
King Jesus, to whom also all the Jacobite songs were ap- 
plicable. To little boys in the street he would speak of a 
little boy in Germany who wrote a letter to the ** dear 



EARLY DAYS 19 

Lord Jesus/* Walking in a friend's garden, he found the 
gardener lamenting that the frost was destroying the straw- 
berries; he took the gardener into the summer-house and 
prayed for a good season. He lived in daily expectation of 
the second advent. Mr. Milne was one of those happy souls 
over whose head heaven is still open, and the angels of 
God ascending and descending. The Bible was to him a 
book of which every letter is divine, and all its figures 
realities. His faith was that of a child — as simple, as 
sincere, as living, as earnest. 

One of Watson's chief recollections of early church- 
going was of the ordination of a minister. It seemed 
to the child as if the proceedings would never come to 
an end, and as one minister after another mounted the 
pulpit and each began a new sermon, despair seized his 
heart. His mother, ever weaker than his father, con- 
ducted him to the door of the church and set him in the 
direction of home. The father contented himself next 
morning with expressing his assurance that, whatever 
John might be fit for in after life, he had no hope what- 
ever that he would become a minister of the Church. 

A more pleasing memory was that of the solemn ad- 
ministration of the Lord's Supper. In the procession 
of the elders the child was specially interested in an old 
man with very white hair and a meek, reverent face. 
Some time after he was walking on the road and passed 
a man breaking stones. The white hair caught his 
attention, and he looked back and recognised the elder 
who had carried the cup. Full of curiosity and wonder, 
he told his father the strange tale. His father ex- 
plained to him that the reason why the old man held 



20 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

so high a place in the Church was that although he was 
one of the poorest men in all the town, he was one of 
the holiest. " Remember," said his father, " the best 
man that ever lived upon this earth was the poorest, for 
our Lord had not where to lay His head ; " and he added, 
'* James breaks stones for his living, but he knows more 
about God than any person I have ever met." So he 
learned that evening, and never departed from the faith, 
that the greatest thing in all the world is character, and 
the crown of character is holiness. 

It was at one of the Blairgowrie farms that Watson 
made acquaintance with Spurgeon's sermons, as he has 
related in one of his happiest sketches. He tells how the 
farmer was instructed by his good wife to bring home 
from the market town the tea and sugar, the paraffin 
oil, and other necessities of life. " And, John, dinna 
forget Spurgeon." Spurgeon was the weekly number of 
the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit. As the provident 
woman had written every requirement — except the oil, 
which was obtained at the ironmonger's, and the Spur- 
geon, which was sold at the draper's — on a sheet of 
paper, and pinned it on the topmost cabbage leaf which 
covered the butter, the risk was not great; but that 
week the discriminating prophecy of the good man's 
capabilities seemed to be justified, for the oil was there, 
but Spurgeon could not be found. It was not in the bot- 
tom of the dogcart, nor below the cushion, nor attached 
to a piece of saddlery, nor even in the good man's trou- 
ser pocket — all familiar resting-places — and when it was 
at last extricated from the inner pocket of his topcoat 



EARLY DAYS 21 

— a garment with which he had no intimate acquaint- 
ance — he received no credit, for it was pointed out with 
force that to have purchased the sermon and then to 
have mislaid it, was worse than forgetting it altogether. 
" ' The Salvation of Manasseh,' " read the good wife ; " it 
would have been a fine-like business to have missed that ; 
a '11 warrant this 'ill be ane o' his sappiest, but they're 
a' gude." And then Manasseh was put in a prominent 
and honourable place, behind the basket of wax flowers 
in the best parlour till Sabbath. When Sabbath came 
the lads from the bothie were brought into the kitchen 
and entertained to tea. Then afterwards the master of 
the house read a sermon by Spurgeon. On that particu- 
lar evening the little gathering was held in the loft be- 
cause it was harvest time, and extra men were working. 
It was laid on the boy as an honour to read Manasseh. 

Whether the sermon is called by this name I do not 
know, and whether it be one of the greatest of Mr. Spur- 
geon's I do not know, nor have I a copy of it; but it was 
mighty unto salvation in that loft, and I make no doubt 
that good grain was garnered unto eternity. There is a 
passage in it when, after the mercy of God has rested on 
this chief sinner, an angel flies through the length and 
breadth of Heaven crying " Manasseh is saved, Manasseh 
is saved." Up to that point the lad read, and further he 
did not read. You know, because you have been told, how 
insensible and careless is a schoolboy, how destitute of all 
sentiment and emotion . . . and therefore I do not ask you 
to believe me. You know how dull and stupid is a plough- 
man, because you have been told . . . and therefore I do 
not ask you to believe me. 



m LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

It was the light which got into the lad's eyes and the 
dust which choked his voice, and it must have been for the 
same reasons that a ploughman passed the back of his 
hand across his eyes. 

" Ye '11 be tired noo/' said the good man; " lat me feen- 
ish the sermon," but the sermon is not yet finished, and 
never shall be. 

It will be seen that Watson was brought up under 
powerful evangelical influences, and there can be no 
doubt that they touched him to the core of his heart. 
But it is right to say that his mother was of a broader 
school. He wrote himself in 1905 : " My mother, I be- 
lieve, would have gladly seen me a minister of the Es- 
tablished Church. She was a Moderate in theology, and 
had a rooted dislike to amateur preachers and all their 
ways, believing that if you employed a qualified physi- 
cian rather than a quack for your body, you had better 
have a qualified clergyman rather than a layman for 
your soul. From her I received the main principles of 
my religious thinking. She taught me that all doctrine 
must be tried by human experience, and that if it was 
not proved by our reason and conscience, it was not true ; 
and especially I learned from her to believe in the Fa- 
therhood of God, and to argue from the human home to 
the divine family. She always insisted that as we were 
all the children of one Father, He would make the 
best of us, both in this world and that which is to 
come. This, however, was the theology of the Moderate 
school, and not of the Free Church." He also draws 
the contrast between the two Churches as they appeared 
to him in early days. " The Free Church of that day 



EARLY DAYS 23 

was more intense, dogmatic, self-righteous, and evangel- 
istic ; the spirit of the Established Church was more lib- 
eral and humane, and possibly some would add less spir- 
itual. While I greatly honoured the leading Free 
Church minister of my country days, both as a religious 
man and a friend of the family, I felt much more at 
home with the parish minister, who in his courtesy of man- 
ner, his practical interest in the parish, his reasonable 
preaching, and avoidance of all extravagance, seemed 
to me the ideal representative of the Galilean faith. Be- 
sides, I believed in an Established Church, and even then, 
although I had not given my mind much to such ques- 
tions, was convinced that the alliance of the Church with 
the State was not only a good thing for the State, but 
also a good thing for the Church, saving her from sec- 
tarianism and bigotry. I used to resent the denuncia- 
tion from Free Church pulpits of sport, walking on 
Sundays, amusements, and the reading of fiction, and 
I remember being very disgusted with an evangelist who 
was much petted, and who asked impertinent questions, 
and who suddenly disappeared." It is evident that the 
two strains of religious feeling in the father and in the 
mother were silently in conflict, and the current of the 
lad's existence was twisted hither and thither. 

One of his early heroes was a " Moderate " minister, 
the Rev. Dr. Barty, of Bendochy, who was Moderator 
of the Church of Scotland. Dr. Barty was the original 
of Watson's favourite character. Dr. Davidson, and he 
referred to him in a speech made at Blairgowrie: — 

He wanted to pay tribute to one who seemed to him to 
be the very ideal of a country minister — their neighbour, 



M LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

the late respected Dr. Barty of Bendochy. He was the 
father of the parish. His very appearance carried author- 
ity and kindliness with it. He saw him standing in the pul- 
pit on the Sacrament day, moving about the parish speak- 
ing with the farmers, and wherever he went always a Chris- 
tian gentleman, bringing to bear the principles of our reli- 
gion on daily life in a kindly and wise fashion. Long might 
Scotland have ministers in their parishes like Dr. Barty, 
and long might the country districts rear men such as 
Strathmore had reared! for upon the country districts, on 
the intelligence and ability, on the physical health, and high 
purpose and godly fear of the country districts depends the 
welfare of the commonwealth. 

I attribute the comparative lateness with which he 
attained his full intellectual stature to the fact that his 
mind was disquieted in his youth. 

All this may be premature, but I do not think it is. 
When Watson was twelve his father was promoted to 
Stirling, and his association with the town is of peculiar 
interest. It was at Stirling High School that he became 
the friend of Henry Drummond. No influence in his life 
was stronger. Watson was one of the warmest of 
friends, but he was discriminating, and he very rarely 
spoke of any one with extravagant praise, though of all 
with kindness. But he would admit no flaw in Henry 
Drummond. After Drummond's death he wrote his 
memory of their first meeting: — 

The sun was going down behind Ben Lomond, in the 
happy summer time, touching with gold the gray old castle, 
deepening the green upon the belt of trees which fringed 
the eastern side of the park, and filling the park itself with 



EARLY DAYS 25 

soft, mellow light. A cricket match between two schools 
had been going on all day, and was coming to an end, and 
I had gone out to see the result — being a new arrival in 
Stirling, and full of curiosity. The two lads at the wickets 
were in striking contrast — one heavy, stockish, and deter- 
mined, who slogged powerfully and had scored well for his 
side; the other nimble, alert, graceful, who had a pretty 
but uncertain play. The slogger was forcing the running 
in order to make up a heavy leeway, and compelled his 
partner to run once too often. " It's all right, and you 
fellows are not to cry shame " — this was what he said as he 
joined his friends — " Buchanan is playing Al, and that hit 
ought to have been a four; I messed the running." It was 
good form, of course, and what any decent lad would want 
to say, but there was an accent of gaiety and a certain air 
which was very taking. Against that group of clumsy, 
unformed, awkward Scots lads, this bright, straight, living 
figure stood in relief, and as he moved about the field my 
eyes followed him, and in my boyish and dull mind I had a 
sense that he was a type by himself, a visitor of finer breed 
than those among whom he moved. By and by he mounted 
a friend's pony and galloped along the racecourse in the 
park till one only saw a speck of white in the sunlight, 
and still I watched in wonder and fascination — only a boy 
of thirteen or so, and dull — till he came back, in time to 
cheer the slogger who had pulled off the match — with three 
runs to spare — and carried his bat. 

"Well played, old chap!" the pure, clear, joyous note 
rang out on the evening air ; " finest thing you've ever 
done," while the strong-armed, heavy-faced slogger stood 
still and looked at him in admiration, and made amends. 
" I say, Drummond, it was my blame you were run 
out. . . ." Drummond was his name, and some one said 
" Henry." So I first saw my friend. 



26 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

What impressed me that pleasant evening in the days of 
long ago I can now identify. It was the lad's distinction, 
an inherent quality of appearance and manner of character 
and soul which marked him and made him solitary. What 
happened with one strange lad that evening befell all kinds 
of people who met Drummond in later years. They were 
at once arrested, interested, fascinated by the very sight 
of the man, and could not take their eyes off him. Like 
a picture of the first order among ordinary portraits, he 
unconsciously put his neighbours at a disadvantage. One 
did not realise how commonplace and colourless other men 
were till they stood side by side with Drummond. Upon 
a platform of evangelists, or sitting among divinity stu- 
dents in a dingy classroom, or cabined in the wooden re- 
spectability of an ecclesiastical court, or standing in a 
crowd of passengers at a railway station, he suggested 
golden embroidery upon hodden gray. It was as if the 
prince of one's imagination had dropped in among common 
folk. He reduced us all to peasantry. 

Watson in later life used to say that Drummond was 
the most vital man he had ever known ; that his eyes had 
a power and hold which were little less than irresistible, 
and almost supernatural; that when he preached, his 
words fell one by one with an indescribable awe and so- 
lemnity, in the style of the Gospels, and reached the se- 
cret place of the soul. He acknowledged that, in spite of 
Drummond's sense of humour and sweetness of nature, 
there was about him a curious aloofness and separate- 
ness from human life. He seemed to be master of him- 
self and passionless. Though he would help any one in 
trouble to his last resource, he neither asked nor wished 
for aid from others. He received many confidences ; he 



EARLY DAYS 27 

gave none ; he refused the brown, beaten paths and took 
his own meteoric way. He belonged by nature to the 
pre-theological age. Christ was his unseen Friend with 
Whom he walked in life, by Whose fellowship he was 
changed, to Whom he prayed. The man was greater 
than all his books, and while competent in science was a 
master in religion. " From his youth up he had kept 
the commandments, and was such a man as the Master 
would have loved. One takes for granted that each 
man has his besetting sin, and we could name that of our 
friends, but Drummond was an exception to this rule. 
After a lifetime's intimacy I do not remember my 
friend's failing. Without pride, without envy, without 
selfishness, without vanity, moved only by goodwill and 
spiritual ambitions, responsive ever to the touch of God 
and every noble impulse, faithful, fearless, magnani- 
mous, Henry Drummond was the most perfect Christian 
I have ever known or expect to see this side the 
grave." While Drummond lived constant communica- 
tion was sustained between the two. Even from Central 
Africa a letter arrived one day after months of travel 
by negro couriers and with many adventures. " It is 
very hot here," wrote Drummond, " and I am wearing 
a helmet and five mosquitoes." 

Another friend of these days at the High School of 
Stirling was William Durham, the " lad o' pairts." 
Speaking at Stirling in 1897, Dr. Watson said: — 

One recollection of that school has been to me a great 
inspiration, and I refer to the life and character and work 
of my distinguished schoolfellow, William Durham. When 



28 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

I came into that form he was facile princeps, and while two 
of us — the Rev. George MacNaughton, of whom I have 
heard to-night^ and myself — fought hard for the second 
place^ none of us had the impudence to try to have the first 
place. That belonged absolutely, with a wide gulf between, 
to William Durham, and we were willing to give him the 
place, not only on account of his conspicuous ability, but 
also on account of his excellent disposition. He was an 
honour to the High School then, and an honour to the 
school afterwards in Edinburgh; and more than that he 
was a sanctifying and Christian influence upon all who 
knew him. He was taken away at the age of twenty-one, 
and was buried in the cemetery at St. Ninians. There is a 
monument raised to him, but his memory remains with all 
the pupils as one standing out from our schooldays, one 
of the noblest and most impressive figures, and I do not 
deny, but am rather anxious to confess, that he inspired 
the character of George Howe in The Bonnie Brier Bush. 

He went on to speak of the beautiful churchyard in 
Stirling, " which is one of the most beautiful things in 
this place, and surely nowhere is there a ' God's acre ' 
which stands higher, nearer the sky, and nowhere one 
on which the sun shines more constantly. . . . There lies 
the mortal dust of one of my dearest friends, and one 
of the brightest intellects given to the Church in our 
time, and one of the holiest lives given to the generation. 
... If I would venture to give any advice to the young 
men in this excellent institution it would be to keep be- 
fore them such lives as those of my schoolfellow, William 
Durham, known to some who are present here not per- 
haps quite young any more than myself ; and the life of 
Henry Drummond, known to all of you, a brave soldier 



EARLY DAYS 29 

of the Cross, a good knight of God, and a pure and 
saintly man from his first days to the end." 

Of Watson's days in Stirhng I am able to give a 
brief recollection from Mr. J. W. Drummond, Profes- 
sor Drummond's brother: — 

My recollection of John Watson as a schoolboy is that 
of one of rather slender build, with pale, refined features. 
In manner he was more sedate than most boys; but he had 
a hearty laugh, and was always delightful company. Even 
then he had a keen sense of humour; and sometimes it was 
difficult to know whether he was talking seriously or in 
jest. In his case the boy was more the father of the man 
than in that of most people. To the last he retained an 
interest in his old schoolfellows; and always inquired for 
them when opportunity permitted. In his time the organ- 
ised games connected with the High School of Stirling were 
limited to cricket, for which two elevens were with diffi- 
culty forthcoming; and I do not remember that he often 
joined in them. He occasionally played golf with his 
father or another of the half dozen men who were then the 
only votaries of the gam6 in the King's Park of Stirling. 
He was frequently to be seen walking with his father and 
mother, the former a dignified gentleman with a face which 
to a boy seemed somewhat sad, but with great kindliness of 
manner; the latter the essence of good nature; and both 
closely attached to their only child. 

His cousin who was an inmate of the home has also 
sent a recollection: — 

I was about five years of age when I remember John 
Watson first, and I lived with his father and mother at that 



30 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

time in Stirling. I often used to hear my aunt speak of 
John when he was a little fellow ; she was very fond of him, 
and as a child he was not at all strong, and often lived with 
her for months at a time at Drumlochy, as the doctors 
wished John to be in the country as much as possible. 

He was rather a precocious child, and one story I re- 
member aunt used to laugh at, and told how she and his 
mother were crossing a field one day where there were 
some cattle. Aunt had remarked somewhat strongly to her 
sister regarding them, and John hearing this ran up to his 
mother and said: " Isn't Aunt Jane a naughty girl to use 
words like that ? " His mother answered, " Yes, John, 
you are right, she is naughty." " Don't you think Satan 
has gone into Aunt Jane's heart? " " Well, John, perhaps 
he has," at which he answered, " And don't you think he 
has gone in and shut the door.^ " 

I fancy he would be five or six years of age at that time. 

When I remember him first he was tall and thin, in fact 
very thin and pale, and not at all strong-looking. At that 
time and from then onwards Professor Henry Drummond 
and he were great friends, and the latter used to come to 
John's house a great deal. 

John was always full of humour and tricks. He got me 
into disgrace with his mother when I was a small child, for 
asking me to open my mouth and shut my eyes, when he 
popped an almond sweet into my mouth, which had been 
previously broken, the interior taken out, the almond filled 
with mustard, and all put neatly together again. My 
screams alarmed the house, and there was considerable 
trouble for John. 

My uncle had an estate called the Grange, where John 
and I often spent our holidays together. He used to ride 
a beautiful cream pony given to him by his father, and 
uncle used to keep it all winter for him. He had it for 



EARLY DAYS SI 

seven or eight years, and used to talk to it so much that 
the pony seemed to understand everything he meant. 

John was a great favourite always wherever he went. 
When in the country with his uncle he used to go and chat 
with the ploughmen, enjoy their talk, and seemed to study 
all their ways. Uncle had an old grieve who had been with 
him for years, and sometimes took a " drappy " too much. 
Peter was his name, and John said a chat with Peter after 
one of those outbreaks was very amusing. He used to come 
in and relate the story to aunt while he was doubled up with 
laughter. I feel sure he gathered a great lot of his matter 
for The Bonnie Brier Bush from those people, although I 
am sure at that time he never dreamt of writing. 

In Stirling the Watsons attended the ministry of the 
Rev. Dr. Alexander Beith, a pre-Disruption minister 
of vigorous intellect and character, who in later life 
strongly defended the orthodoxy of Robertson Smith. 
Watson said: — 

I shall always remember here is the church where I wor- 
shipped with my people, and the figure of Dr. Beith, mov- 
ing through this town with a certain dignity which I think 
we of the younger generation of clergy have not been able 
always to sustain, and preaching in the pulpit with a note 
of authority which the pulpit now very seldom has, always 
fills up a page in my memory. He was a type of the cler- 
gyman of the past in all his ways, and left a deep im- 
pression on the generation following. 



CHAPTER II 

THE UNIVERSITY 

In 1866 John Watson became a student in the Uni- 
versity of Edinburgh. His father, who had been pro- 
moted to the highest place in his profession, had re- 
moved to Edinburgh, and lived in the Grange. He at- 
tached himself to the Grange Free Church, and became 
an elder there under the ministry of Dr. Horatius 
Bonar. Dr. Bonar, who is best known as a hymn-writer, 
had been an intimate friend of M'Cheyne, and was ulti- 
mately the biographer of Milne of Perth, the minister 
of Watson's boyhood. Thus the evangelistic influences 
of which I have spoken continued to play upon him. 
But he had very little to say in after life about Dr. 
Bonar, save that there was a strong element of mysti- 
cism in his teaching. Few famous men have owed so 
little to the University as John Watson. He flowered 
late, and it is my belief that his force and passion were 
partly checked by the silent conflict in his heart. For 
an account of his career in Edinburgh University I am 
largely indebted to Dr. D. M. Ross, who was perhaps 
his most intimate friend during the four years of the 
curriculum. There were brilliant men at Edinburgh in 
these days, both among the students and the professors. 
Among the notable figures in the chairs was John Stuart 
Blackie, the Professor of Greek. Blackie was pictur- 
esque, and so eccentric that many took him to be a mere 
harlequin. Those who knew him, however, claimed that, 



THE UNIVERSITY 83 

though he was eminently discursive in his teaching, he 
gave freely of his garnered wisdom of life and widened 
their intellectual and religious horizons. He dealt 
freely with theology, and persistently recommended the 
divinity students in his classes to draw their theology 
from the fountain-head, the Greek New Testament. 
" Yesterday," he once said, " I listened to the most 
evangelical sermon I have ever heard from a pulpit. 
Evangelical because it kept so close to the teaching of 
Christ in the Gospels." Other teachers were Sellar, the 
ripe and finished Latinist ; Campbell Eraser, the philos- 
opher who imbued many students with the genuine meta- 
physical spirit; P. G. Tait, the eminent physicist, the 
friend and colleague of Lord Kelvin ; David Masson, the 
strong, manly, inspiring teacher of English literature; 
and Henry Calderwood, the solid and practical teacher. 
Mr. Barrie has written about some of these in his little 
book. An Edinburgh Eleven. It could hardly be said 
that any of these roused Watson to enthusiasm. He did 
not join in the strife for prizes; he was content with 
passing examinations and taking his degree in the regu- 
lar course. But as his writings afterwards showed, he 
watched very closely the play of life among his fellow- 
students, and especially the sacrifices made for intellec- 
tual eminence by many whose means were straitened. 
He did not by personal experience know what poverty 
was, but he had among his fellows many who did. As 
Dr. Ross says, the Scottish peasants with their passion 
for education and for seeing their children " getting 
on," will readily pinch themselves to send a clever lad 
to college. With his parents' savings, eked out by a 



34 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

bursary or by his own private tutoring of schoolboys 
in the evening, such a lad manages to scrape along 
on scanty fare — sometimes with tragic results. Eager 
for intellectual distinction, and for the rewards 
which will enable him to repay the sacrifices made in his 
humble home, he is reckless of his bodily health, and the 
end comes speedily. Watson did not miss the broad cul- 
ture which is to be won from the social life and atmos- 
phere of the University. He took from it the intellec- 
tual stimulus, the widened horizon, and the lifelong 
friendships which are among the choicest gains of col- 
lege years. 

In after years he would talk chiefly about Blackie, 
and give imitations of the classroom and of the pro- 
fessor on the slightest excuse, breaking into wild Gaelic 
songs. But his memories of his teachers were very ten- 
der and very loving, and he did not blame them for 
any deficiency in his scholarship. For his time was not 
wasted. He was a diligent reader, and in after years 
never expressed the slightest regret for the time thus 
spent on acquiring great stores of general information. 
It was always said of him : " No matter where you put 
him down, he will be at home with the man at his elbow." 
He never envied the cleverer men of his time, and often 
remarked in later years when his name was famous: 
" I have been a very fortunate man. Everything has 
always been in my favour. My friends were all cleverer 
than I was." 

Among his fellow-students were men who rose to emi- 
nence. Sir John Murray, of Challenger Expedition 
fame; Dr. Sorley, the present Professor of Moral Phi- 



THE UNIVERSITY 35 

losophy in Cambridge University; Professor Pringle 
Pattison, who occupies the chair of Logic and Meta- 
physics in the University of which he was once a stu- 
dent, were all his contemporaries. In the English Lit- 
erature Class sat Robert Louis Stevenson. It does not 
appear that Watson ever spoke to Stevenson, but he re- 
membered that his attendance was very occasional, and 
that when he entered the classroom with his velvet 
jacket and bohemian air, he was usually greeted with a 
round of cheers. 

It was not in English literature but in mental phi- 
losophy that Watson first distinguished himself. Dr. 
Ross writes that the students of the Moral Philosophy 
Class were keenly interested in the discussion of Utili- 
tarianism and Free Will. Professor Calderwood, who 
had several times found a group of the students after 
the class was over engaged in such discussions in the 
quadrangle, suggested that they should establish a 
society and thrash out their questions in circumstances 
of greater comfort. From that suggestion originated 
the Philosophical Society, which had an honourable and 
useful career. Robert Adamson, who had already 
passed through the philosophical classes and proved 
his pre-eminence as a philosophical student, was one of 
the four presidents for the first year, and the secretary 
was James Walter Ferrier, son of Professor Ferrier, 
and friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, who has de- 
scribed him with infinite love and pity. 

The subject of discussion at our first meeting in the 
Associated Societies' Room was "Protoplasm: the physical 



36 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

basis of life '* — suggested by Huxley's famous address and 
Hutchison Stirling's reply: "As regards Protoplasm." 
Towards the close of this discussion, a tall, spare, pale- 
looking student, who was unknown to most of us, made a 
short speech and wound up his criticism of the attempt to 
explain the origin of life by mere physical processes with 
this sentence: " Mr. Chairman, we heard of the dance of 
death, this is surely the dance of life." The speaker, we 
discovered, was a student in his first year at the New Col- 
lege, a cousin of one of our class-fellows, and his name 
John Watson. In a later year, he was Secretary of our 
Society, and afterwards President. That he thus associated 
himself with a society whose members were his juniors in 
academic standing indicates the strength of his interest in 
the intellectual problems which engaged his attention in 
after years to the profit of his hearers. 

To this I may add that Watson retained to the end his 
interest in philosophy, and generally found time to read 
any new philosophical book which was attracting gen- 
eral attention. 

His own somewhat severe and shadowed judgment of 
these early years was given in one of his last writ- 
ings : — 

When my readers know that the whole instruction I re- 
ceived at schools was in classics, and (much less so) in 
mathematics, and that I went to the University of Edin- 
burgh at the age of sixteen, they can imagine how likely 
I was to profit by philosophy and literature. I was at 
home in Horace and Homer, and knew my Euclid fairly 
well, but I might as well have remained outside the classes 
of that great and venerable teacher. Professor Eraser, the 



THE UNIVERSITY 87 

modern father of philosophy in Scotland, and an honour- 
able name far beyond his own country. It was only after 
I had graduated that my mind awoke to philosophy, and 
very largely through the influence of the University Philo- 
sophical Society, which contained many distinguished 
men, and of which, through patient continuance in well- 
doing, I became a president. If I had only entered that 
eminent man's class at the age of twenty ! One hopes that 
the day has come when no university anywhere will admit 
students without a matriculation examination, and when 
they will refuse to do the work of secondary schools. So 
far as I now can understand, I was simply a schoolboy 
at the University. 

When Watson was passing through the University 
he did not think of becoming a minister. His mother, 
who chiefly directed his life, would have put him in the 
Army if she had judged the means of the family suf- 
ficient. She allowed her son to learn farming and to fol- 
low the pursuits of a country life till he was much more 
at home in the saddle than in the study. He had to take 
his degree in order to satisfy his father and rank as a 
moderately educated person. But once that had been 
done, he hoped either to join a relative who was farm- 
ing on a large scale, or to prepare himself for a post 
as a land agent. His sympathy was with the scenes, 
occupations, pleasures and people of the country, with 
all of which he was familiar. His love of the country 
was kept alive in these days by his vacation visits 
to his uncles. He had ample room, for his uncles 
— all bachelors but one — rented or, in some cases, 
owned quite a number of the largest and best farms in 



88 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

eastern Perthshire. The brothers Maclaren were 
widely known in Strathmore for their worth as men 
and their abihty as agriculturists. Watson's college 
holidays were largely spent at Gormack Grange, or 
some other of the hospitable farms, where the quick, 
sprightly lad with his endless drolleries of speech was 
ever welcome. It was there as the years passed on that 
he gained his full initiation into rural life. In the por- 
traiture of Burnbrae and Drumsheugh there are recog- 
nisable many characteristics of the bachelor uncles. 
He had many stories to tell of these days. He stayed 
chiefly with an aunt and uncle, both unmarried, at Kin- 
loch, near Blairgowrie. The three sat in a prominent 
position in the little kirk, and it was his aunt's terror 
that his uncle would drop asleep at the other end of the 
seat. For this purpose she placed an umbrella along 
the intervening space, and at the slightest nod of the 
head, without altering the pious and thoughtful expres- 
sion of her face, her left arm grasped the umbrella 
firmly, and in a moment attention was assured. His 
imitation of his aunt inserting a peppermint into her 
mouth with the general appearance of one following 
a train of theological thought was irresistible. For 
these friends of early days he had a great and enduring 
love. In after years he always paid a visit with great 
regularity to the Kirkyard where they lie, to assure 
himself that the graves were in repair, and if he was 
too busy he sent instructions to a trusted friend. For 
him there were few sadder sights than a neglected 
grave, especially some little child's grave hidden by a 
riot of weeds. In his last years he showed a desire to 



THE UNIVERSITY 39 

see aofain the scenes which were associated with the rec- 
ollections of other years, and a longing to roll back the 
mist which was gathering between him and the past. 

These bachelor uncles were men of powerful build, 
but they took such risks and hazards that they did not 
live their full time. Once late at night during a snow- 
storm one of them coming home shouted to the man on 
the other side of the river to bring the boat across. But 
the river was running too high on that wild night, and 
the man refused to risk his life. At that Maclaren 
calmly wrapped himself up in his plaid and slept 
soundly under a bush till dawn, when he crossed and re- 
turned home none the worse. In fact so ordinary an 
occurrence was never mentioned by him. It only be- 
came known through the boatman. It was from this 
stock that Watson inherited his iron constitution, for 
in spite of what has been said to the contrary, a man 
who could lecture often three times a day, and travel 
at night for weeks at a stretch, must have had quite ex- 
ceptional physical strength. 

It may seem that his University days were partly 
wasted. But wise observers of life have noted that there 
is a time when intellectual young men are sure to idle if 
they have the opportunity. Though such times are 
often bitterly regretted in after life as lost days and 
years, the probability is that they have special value 
and contribute an element not otherwise obtainable to 
the ultimate development of the man. Toffper says: 
" A year of downright loitering is a desirable element in 
a liberal education." 

In after years he became intimate with some of his 



40 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

old teachers, and particularly with Professor Blackie, 
the best loved of all. Among the very few papers he 
kept I found a treasured certificate from Blackie dated 
April, 1868, and containing the words, "He displayed 
a knowledge of the Greek language that distinguished 
him highly among his fellow students ; he was an excel- 
lent student and gave me great satisfaction." Along 
with it is a letter from Mrs. Blackie, which tells its 
own story: — 

Feb. 28, 1895. 
9 Douglas Crescent, Edinburgh, 

Dear Mr. Watson, — I must not wait longer without 
acknowledging and thanking you for your photograph. It 
arrived too late to be more than recognised by my Dear, 
who since you were here has been too ill to see letters or 
even to hear them read. It is a failure of the whole sys- 
tem. He slept night and day for four days this week, only 
awakening for a few intervals. Yesterday he sunk very 
low, and his mind, up till then perfectly acute, began to 
wander. He never gave much trouble in health and he 
continues true still to his instincts, and is simple and sweet 
when lucid moments come. 

It was a true pleasure to him to see you, and he and I 
have often spoken briefly of that pleasure. I hope you will 
like the enclosed photo. It is the one we like. He looks 
such a happy sage there. 

With my sincere regards, — I am, yours, 

E. H. S. Blackie. 



CHAPTER III 

NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH 

Towards the end of his college days he was faced with 
one of the determining questions of life. He had to 
choose his profession. On this, as on all others con- 
nected with him, my business is to give the facts as he 
gave them. It is fair to say that the impression of 
some who knew him at that period contradicts his own 
in some points. But Watson was reticent on the deep- 
est matters, and no doubt his friends misunderstood. 
For every sentence of this chapter I have his own au- 
thority either in printed articles or in manuscript. 

He did not intend and did not wish to become a min- 
ister. He was not closely associated with religious cir- 
cles. " While I attended Church and lived a moral life, 
I had not the remotest contact with Church work, and 
was an absolute stranger to what may be called the 
religious circle. I did not know one word of their 
language then, and now, although I know it fairly, 
I have never acquired the accent; it is with me as 
with an Englishman brought up in France." One 
day he was informed by his father that he must 
enter the Church. He was allowed the alternative of 
the Bar, if he had an insuperable objection to a clerical 
i career. But it was plainly indicated that such a choice 
, would be a disappointment to his mother and to his 
father. So little had he thought of his future profes- 

41 



42 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

sion that he was not a communicant in the Christian 
Church, and he became one in order to fulfil a condition 
of entrance into the Theological College. He dwelt 
upon this almost painfully after he had resigned his 
charge. 

If sometimes I have been almost choked in the atmos- 
phere of ecclesiastical courts, it was because my lungs were 
accustomed to the wind blowing over the moors or across 
a field of ripe, golden wheat; and if I have not understood 
the subtleties or the phraseology of esoteric piety, it was 
because I had been so much at home with open-air folk. 
It has, therefore, come to pass that I have always been 
slightly nervous, and more than slightly ill at ease in re- 
ligious circles, not, I hope, because I do not hold with all 
my heart the Christian faith, but because in my youth I 
was never within the circle of professional religion. Jesuits, 
who are in some ways the wisest men I have ever known, 
are careful to frame the novice's whole nature for his fu- 
ture work, so that all its powers be gathered in and conse- 
crated to the priestly office. This one thing he sees and 
thinks and loves. 

It was by no means a foregone conclusion that he 
should become a minister of the Free Church. He 
might have entered the Established Church, and 
through all his clerical life it was his opinion that he 
would have been more at home within its bounds. He 
was an Established Churchman in theory, and he pas- 
sionately maintained that he was a Moderate in theol- 
ogy. It was among Nonconformists that he was to 
spend his life, and he loved them more as life went on. 
Still he writes in 1905 :— 



NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH 43 

While I have never seen cause to repent either of my 
Churchmanship or of my theology, I gratefully acknowl- 
edge the inspiration which came to me from the warm piety 
and self-sacrificing ideals of the Free Church, and I hope 
that I have not been unfaithful to my Church. I wish also, 
in passing, to acknowledge the courtesy and kindness I have 
received from English Nonconformists who have welcomed 
a Scottish foreigner to their pulpits, and for whose histori- 
cal love of liberty, religious and political, I have a respect- 
ful admiration. But it is always better that one should live 
in his native country rather than in a strange land, how- 
ever fairly the sun may shine and delightful the people 
may be. It fetters a man's speech, and perhaps even his 
soul, when he is not in thoroughgoing sympathy with his 
colleagues; it brings a man to his height, and calls forth 
all his energies when he is working with the same method 
and thinking on the same principles as the man beside 
him. I should like to record my conviction that so long 
as there are different schools in the Christian Church, a 
minister will do his work after the best fashion when he is 
placed in the most congenial atmosphere. And, therefore, 
let a man choose his natural church, the one for which he 
was born. 

It will be seen then that he became a student for the 
Free Church ministry with a certain reluctance and hes- 
itation. But there can be no doubt that he found him- 
self far more at home in the Divinity Hall than he had 
been in the University. His powers were maturing. 
Most young men with a similar experience look back 
on their theological course as one of the happiest times 
of their life. There is a freedom from responsibility; 
there is a widening sphere of knowledge and interest; 



44 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

above all, there is the inspiring contact of fresh minds 
with the same interests and the same end in view. Henry 
Drummond was his fellow-student, and in his life of 
Drummond, Professor George Adam Smith has given 
a graphic account of the College life. The Divinity 
course occupied four winter sessions. There were about 
a hundred regular students, and twenty or thirty oth- 
ers from America, Ireland, and the Continent. During 
Watson's time at New College the bond of fellowship 
was strengthened by the institution of a common dinner- 
table. The atmosphere of the College was genial and 
stimulating. " One remembers not only greater ma- 
turity, but more buoyancy, more humour, and more 
camaraderie than in the University." Among the stu- 
dents there was a good proportion of able men. Rob- 
ertson Smith had just left the College, but in Watson's 
picturesque phrase " the white track behind the vessel 
was still on the water." Smith carried on a tutorial 
class in Hebrew, and when he left Edinburgh Watson 
and others who had been indebted to his help presented 
him with an illuminated address expressive of regret at 
his departure, and gratitude for his services. Andrew 
Harper, now Professor of Hebrew at Melbourne, and 
David Patrick (now editor of Chambers'' s Encyclopce- 
dia), were in their third year. W. G. Elmslie, after- 
wards Professor of Hebrew in the Presbyterian College 
of London, was in his second year. In his own year 
were James Stalker, Henry Drummond, and John F. 
Ewing, who fulfilled a brief but memorable ministry in 
Melbourne. There were other men of note, and they 
educated each other with great zest in the Theological 



NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH 45 

Society which met on Friday evenings. Watson's so- 
cial gifts made room for him. It is impossible to con- 
ceive that he. could have been sullen under any circum- 
stances, and in a measure he yielded to the atmosphere. 
But he was more distinguished as a brilliant talker and 
speaker than as a laborious student. The determined 
orthodoxy of the Free Church was beginning to yield. 
The new generation of students were eagerly discussing 
Biblical criticism, evolution, Hegelianism. These acted 
as solvents on traditional views of the Bible and on cur- 
rent Calvinistic theology. Watson was caught in the 
newer theological movement. Clement of Alexandria 
was a greater favourite with him than St. Augustine. 
He was a close student of Frederick Robertson and 
Horace Bushnell, and he gave himself freely to such 
writers as Ruskin, Emerson, Tennyson, Longfellow, 
Matthew Arnold, and Russell Lowell. In fact there 
were few men in the College more intent on finding their 
theological bearings. One of the books that fascinated 
him at that time was a little volume containing two of 
T. H. Green's sermons to undergraduates — " Faith " 
and " The Witness of God." This had been privately 
printed and was handed eagerly about as if it had been 
the revelation of a prophet. But Watson was mainly 
distinguished by his social vivacity and mental alert- 
ness. " No one could approach him," says Dr. Ross, 
" in his power of hitting off good-humouredly the pecu- 
liarities of his classmates, or, be it said with bated 
breath, of his class professor. Many a New College 
student is best remembered by some of us to-day through 
a phrase or story of Watson's. At the College dinner- 



46 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

table his stories and sallies were an endless source of 
wonderment to the graver students ; and in the after- 
dinner walks in Princes Street Gardens, across the 
Meadows, or round the noble crags of Arthur's Seat, in 
the company of his more intimate friends, Watson was 
a perennial fountain alike of camaraderie and intellec- 
tual stimulus." He gave and he also received, for it 
was ever in bright and animating society that he found 
a tonic and a stimulus. 

It cannot be said that he judged favourably the 
teaching in the College. It was one of his dominating 
beliefs that Churches generally do far too little to se- 
cure the efficient training of their ministers. He held 
that a mistaken tenderness in retaining professors who 
could not instruct was at the root of much weakness in 
the Christianity of to-day. He held that five out of his 
seven professors, though excellent men in different ways, 
were absolutely useless as teachers. No freedom of 
choice was allowed. The students had to attend every 
class whether the subject or the teacher profited them 
or not. As the training of Divinity students was a sub- 
ject which always interested Watson very keenly, it is 
worth while to give his ripe judgment on the subject: — 

Were one recasting arrangements from his practical ex- 
perience, there are several changes he would make in the 
system of theological colleges. For one thing, the Chairs 
should be filled by men at the height of their power, and 
who are acknowledged experts in their subject; the pro- 
fessors should hold their Chairs for a certain number of 
years, and then, if they be efficient, be re-elected; certain 
subjects such as Old and New Testament languages and 



NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH 47 

criticism, and possibly dogma, should be compulsory, and 
a man should be obliged to choose, in addition, one or two 
more subjects out of Church History, Apologetic, Christian 
Ethics, Social Economy, Palaeography, and suchlike. He 
should have liberty to go from college to college where he 
can find the best teachers. And before he leaves his col- 
lege, the student should be carefully trained in pastoral 
theology. It is not just and it is not moral that a man 
should be sent forth to the work of the holy ministry who 
does not know how to preach, who has never been trained to 
conduct a service, who has not been instructed in pastoral 
work, who has no idea what to say to men when they come 
with their doubts or with their sins, and who is not in con- 
tact with the living thought of the day. Until lately theo- 
logical colleges were the most inefficient institutions in the 
world of education, and the sufferers from this sin are 
scattered up and down the ministry of the Christian Church. 

But there was one at least of his theological profess- 
ors whom he regarded with peculiar and abiding rev- 
erence. Perhaps no theological teacher of this time or 
any time has succeeded so well in dominating successive 
companies of students as the late Dr. A. B. Davidson, 
the distinguished Professor of Hebrew in the New Col- 
lege. Davidson, who was professor from 1863 to 1903, 
was for forty years regarded in the New College as its 
most famous man and its singular glory. A scholar of 
the first rank, a man singularly unobtrusive and modest, 
but with formidable powers of sarcasm, endowed with 
a deep and passionate nature severely held in command, 
Davidson was the ideal scholar and teacher. I quote a 
large part of the tribute which Watson paid to his old 



48 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

master when Davidson died, for it reveals much of the 
author as well as of the subject: — 

Dr. Davidson taught, in the seventies at least, in a dingy 
room on the highest floor at the back of New College; and 
his class, even with strangers from various quarters of the 
world, would seldom exceed thirty. He was obliged to 
spend a lamentable proportion of his priceless time in 
teaching grammar to young lads who, in many cases, only 
learned as much as would pass the exit examination, and 
then afterwards forgot it all. He was only able to give 
a certain portion of his time to those lectures on the He- 
brew Literature and Spirit which are an inspiration across 
the lapse of j^ears. If he preached — and each sermon was 
an event — his coming might not be advertised nor even an- 
nounced; and latterly he would not preach at all, declar- 
ing either that his sermons were so bad that he had burned 
them, or that preaching was a bad habit into which a man 
might fall if he did not take care. No one ever heard of 
his attending a public meeting or moving a resolution; he 
went very little into society, and took no part in Church 
Courts, where, curious to say, he was never formally prose- 
cuted, although the pioneer of modern Hebrew scholar- 
ship; no one turned to look at him as he went along Prin- 
ces Street, and his face was unknown to the people. Yet 
this retiring and modest man, who simply loathed publicity 
and sensationalism, who would rather any day have been 
silent than speak, and would have given his year's stipend 
rather than mount a public platform, who was always en- 
deavouring to escape notice, and who flushed red if sud- 
denly addressed in a room, changed the face of theo- 
logical thought in Scotland, put a new spirit into the 
preaching of the Bible, affected the people through a thou- 



NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH 49 

sand pulpits, and was the most powerful intellectual in- 
fluence in the Scots Church, and, through the men whom 
he taught and through the work he did, a pervasive light 
throughout the whole English-speaking Christian Church. 

There was an instant hush in the class when the door 
of the retiring-room opened and the Professor entered in 
gown and bands, and the keenest intellectual face some of 
us have ever seen — ^thin, clean-cut, crowned with iron-grey 
hair — looked at the men for a brief instant before prayer. 
No one could hear anywhere else such a prayer — short and 
slow, with slight pauses and hesitations, but reverent and 
individual. The petitions were those of a scholar, and per- 
haps the most characteristic was " Lord, grant us teachable- 
ness." If a man were called up to read and translated with 
care, the Professor heard him with approval and the man 
was content when Davidson was satisfied. If the student 
showed scholarship by some felicitous turn of speech or 
touch of grammatical accuracy, then Davidson gave him a 
brief word of praise, and the man was not to be spoken to 
on equal terms for the rest of the day, since praise from 
Davidson was a decoration. If the man were an idler, and 
could not even read the Hebrew correctly, then, after a few 
mysterious words suggesting Hebrew sounds had fallen 
from the unhappy reader's lips, Davidson would suggest 
that he should proceed to translation, and when the trans- 
lation was an exact repetition of the accepted version, Da- 
vidson would blandly congratulate him on the correspond- 
ence between his work and that of King James's scholars, 
and ask him to sit down without censure. But the way in 
which Davidson used to say " That will do, Mr. Tomkins," 
was like the cut of a whip. If a working student by some 
accident broke the stillness while the Professor was lectur- 
ing, he would give him a quick, reproachful glance, which 
brought the man into the retiring-room afterwards to ex- 



50 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

plain the conduct of his ink-bottle with abject apologies; 
but if it were only some idler at the back who had been 
amusing himself by making a pyramid of hats^ then the sud- 
den flush of anger would fade from the Professor's brow^ 
as he recognised the cause, and he would say, as it were to 
himself, " It's only Mr. Tomkins." Only Mr. Tomkins ! 
There was no man living in Edinburgh who could adminis- 
ter such punishment. When the Professor lectured, the 
men toiled after him, writing at top speed and fearing lest 
they should lose a sentence, and there were days when they 
could not write because they required every power to appre- 
ciate. And there were lectures so perfect, final, fascinating, 
inspiring, that when their time came again in the course of 
after years, men left other classes for the day to hear Da- 
vidson once more on Saul. 

It must be left to scholars to declare the value of his 
work, scattered throughout many theological journals, and 
contained in his handbooks on the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
and the Book of Job, and the Hebrew Grammar, and no 
doubt a capable and generous tribute will be paid to the 
departed scholar in many high quarters. But it is open 
for any one to point out that perhaps his greatest achieve- 
ment was the creation of scholars and the inspiration of 
ordinary men. He was the master of Robertson Smith and 
George Adam Smith, and with them of almost every one 
of the young Hebraists who have brought such distinc- 
tion to the Free Church and to Scots theological learning. 
And I suppose the New Testament and the dogmatic stu- 
dents would also confess how much they owe to the love 
of learning, and the enthusiasm for theology and the prin- 
ciples of study which they learned from Davidson. But 
his influence was not exhausted upon scholars; it has 
reached to every working minister who ever sat in his class- 
room and had soul enough to appreciate the man. If a 



NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH 51 

New College man has learned to come to the Bible with 
an open mind^ and to place himself in its original environ- 
ment; if one strives to reach the soul of the Book, and 
has felt the power of its spiritual message, and indeed if 
one loves learning at all and good books, and is moved to 
serve truth and do righteousness in his calling, he finds out 
more clearly as the years come and go that, while he has 
debts to pay to many men, his chief debt is due to Dr. 
Davidson. What Professor Davidson was to his distin- 
guished pupils the writer does not know; but he can tell 
what he was to pupils who had no special claim upon 
his interest and goodness. He did not lay himself out 
to pet his students, and encompass them with social ob- 
servances. He kept himself aloof, and was always some- 
what of a mystery to them. His manner could not be 
called genial and affectionate; it was reserved and silent, 
with a flavour of cynicism. The students never complained 
of that; on that account they rather respected him the 
more. What students ask is not that a professor should be 
a social philanthropist or a person of jocose manners, and 
patronage of every kind and fulsome attentions they will 
deeply resent. They demand that a man shall know his 
subject through and through, and that, if possible, he shall 
be able to teach them what he knows. That he shall work 
hard for his class, and compel them to work, that he shall do 
justly by every man both in praise and in blame, and if, in 
addition, he also takes an unaffected interest in the men who 
do their best, however poor that best may be, then they will 
honour that professor, and hang upon his lips, and declare 
the honour of his name, and take his most sarcastic criticism 
with secret pride, and cherish a single word of approbation 
for all the days of their life. And though they would never 
say it to their most intimate friends, and the professor him- 
self would laugh the idea to scorn, they will love that man. 



52 LIFE OF L\N :\IACLAREN 

Davidson's power of speech when he criticised a man's 
Exegesis, and the writer had taken refuge from a difficulty 
in pleasant fancy, or from honest exposition in Evangelical 
twaddle, was as a razor working swiftly and surely; while 
the things he could say in private to reduce a man's swollen 
self-conceit or to prune his eccentricity were distinctly 
memorable. And although he was not easily provoked in 
society, and did not care for the clash of words, yet when 
an ignorant minister challenged Dr. Davidson at a dinner- 
table, boldly and rudely saying, " I count myself fortunate 
never to have learned Hebrew," the reply of the Professor 
was described to me as swift and sufficient. " And I count 
that Professor also fortunate who might have had to teach 
you." One, indeed, did not envy the man who tried to cross 
swords with Dr. Davidson, nor the student who fell under 
his displeasure. But if he believed that you had used the 
brains the Almighty had been pleased to give you, and if 
you had carried yourself in a becoming manner while under 
his charge, he would neither forget nor be indifferent to 
you in after years. He would walk the length of Princes 
Street with you — an honour now to be deeply cherished: 
he would show an unexpected acquaintance with your diffi- 
culties and duties: he would make a shy allusion to some 
little success you had had — a tremendous success after he 
had acknowledged it — and you would learn, to your utter 
surprise, that behind your back he said the friendliest 
things of you, and spoke of you almost as if you had been 
a Hebrew scholar, so kind a heart and so generous a temper 
were hidden behind a reserved disposition and a scholar's 
severe mask. 

As often as two Xew College men met after an interval, 
they talked sooner or later of their master, and complained 
bitterly that he ^v^ote so little, and that there was no word 
of his great book — which some said would be on Old Testa- 



NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH 53 

ment Theology: that he refused to preach, and hid himself 
more and more from sight. Their complaints were a veiled 
tribute to his scholarly fastidiousness, his loyalty to truth, 
his contempt for raw work, his dislike for notoriety, and his 
strong individuality. It was hoped that in his years of 
rest. Dr. Davidson would have made the world partaker of 
his stored treasures ; but one fears that the ripest and sanest 
Old Testament teacher of our day has left his chief monu- 
ment in the work and lives of his pupils, and the rare com- 
bination of the finest scholarship with the fear of God. 

Yea, this in him was the peculiar grace, 

(Hearken our chorus!) 
That before living he 'd learn how to live. 

No end to learning. 
That low man seeks a little thing to do. 

Sees it and does it; 
This high man, with a great thing to pursue. 

Dies ere he knows it. 

Another teacher not less famous, but famous after a 
different fashion, was Principal Rainy. Nobody who 
knew Rainy could doubt that he ranked with the great- 
est statesmen of the Scottish Church, with Knox, Hen- 
derson, and Carstares. He was also a powerful and 
subtle lecturer, and a man of the noblest Christian char- 
acter. As a teacher he did not attain to the greatness 
of Davidson. Watson wrote : — 

Principal Rainy was teaching Church history, and it 
were an impertinence for me to criticise his lectures. His 
is the subtlest mind of our time with which I ever came in 
contact; possibly because it was so subtle, and his manner 
was so perfectly cleansed from enthusiasm, that students of 



54 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

weaker capacity did not receive the full benefit of his in- 
struction_, or feel, as they have afterwards felt, the fascina- 
tion which gathers round the long evolution of Church life 
and doctrine. 

But when Rainy died some time after, Watson 
wrote : — 

From a suggestion of superciliousness in his manner — 
due to his habit of half-closed eyes, and from the subtlety 
of his style, due to the caution of his mind, a section of the 
public imagined Dr. Rainy to be the conventional ecclesi- 
astic of the Roman type — haughty, crafty, ambitious, and 
not too scrupulous. There never was a more shallow or 
more unjust reading of his character. He did not give his 
mind to every acquaintance, and if he had it would not 
have been understood; he saw far ahead of the average 
man, and had plans which the average man grasps slowly. 
But there was nothing cunning or double, nothing ungen- 
erous or unchivalrous in Rainy. He was lifted above the 
jealousies, private ends, personal grudges, unworthy prej- 
udices which blind and fetter even able men. His eyes 
were ever fixed on the lofty ideals and broad enterprises of 
the Kingdom of God in Scotland. It was his, besides much 
patient labour over the affairs of the Church, to prepare the 
way for the complete and final union of the Kirk, and he 
lived to see the first step taken, and to secure freedom for 
believing criticism in the Church, and he could have proudly 
said that no Church, in proportion to her size, has produced 
a larger number of Biblical scholars. At a great cost he 
did this service, and coming generations will do him honour. 

Watson liked to illustrate Rainy's ways. Once in 
lecturing he turned from his manuscript and leaning 



NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH 55 

back in his chair he said, " The fact is, gentlemen, 
Archbishop Sharp was a great rascal." The students 
gave a unanimous cheer, and the Principal caught the 
point, and concealing a smile with difficulty, went on 
with his lecture. Rainy's style was perfectly lucid 
when he was at his keenest, but was apt to be over-care- 
ful in its qualifications, and he would deliver himself at 
a time after this fashion : " There are in this theologian 
certain tendencies which, unless you consider them bal- 
anced by other leanings in the opposite direction which 
do not certainly obtrude themselves, might lead an im- 
partial student to entertain the fear that our author 
might ultimately find himself in a position which could 
not be very clearly distinguished from semi-Pelagian- 
ism." No one could say that this was a rash state- 
ment. Watson did full justice to Rainy's extraordi- 
nary ascendancy over the Free Church Assembly. Like 
Pompilia in The Ring and the Book, Dr. Rainy had his 
" great fortnight. '-' This was the fortnight during 
which his Assembly met to discuss the affairs of the 
Church. No one described him better than Watson : — 

His head is thrown back and through his half-closed 
eyes he is watching his opponent. His commanding fore- 
head, clear-cut profile, firm chin, his air of culture, and his 
aristocratic bearing, mark him out as a member of the 
ruling caste, who are born to direct and command. When 
one looks down at the face of Rameses the Great, lying in 
his coffin, he recognises in an instant that between that 
Egyptian monarch and the multitude of peasants who toiled 
in the steaming valley of the Nile, there was a great gulf 
fixed. They were created to obey, and he to govern. Dr. 



56 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

Rainy sits among able and distinguished men on that bench, 
and around him are laymen and clergymen who may be 
fairly called the flower of the people, but one feels that this 
man has a place by himself. Behind that face of perfect 
lines and inscrutable expression are thoughts which few in 
that Assembly share, and a will with which they cannot 
compete. 

Towards the close of Watson's time at the New Col- 
lege in 1873 an extraordinary religious movement be- 
gan in Edinburgh, and spread over Scotland and Eng- 
lajnd. This was the revival associated with the names 
of Messrs. Moody and Sankey. Nearly all the Divinity 
students caught the fire and flung themselves into the 
work. In particular, Henry Drummond devoted him- 
self to evangelisation for some two years. Dr. George 
Adam Smith gives a history of the work and says that 
the effect of the great revival was extremely helpful to 
the students, and prepared them to face the questions 
raised by Professor Robertson Smith upon scholarly and 
strenuously religious lines. 

The practical and theological thus developed in close 
co-operation with inestimable benefit to both. The strong 
intellectual activities of the College were in the healthiest 
possible touch with real life. At the same time the College 
was full of happy play, and there was a good deal of jok- 
ing. Watson does not seem to have taken any special part 
in the revival. He was always in respectful sympathy with 
such movements, but it was on the normal work of the 
Church that he always relied. He characterised Moody as 
" the most capable, honest, and unselfish evangelist of our 



NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH 57 

day/* But his judgment is probably summed up in the sen- 
tence: " Religion is without doubt the better for the popu- 
lar evangelist, although there be times when quiet folk 
think that he needs chastening; religion also requires in 
every generation one representative at least of the higher 
evangelism, and if any one should ask what manner of man 
he ought to be, the answer is to his hand — Henry Drum- 
mond/* 

Dr. Smith, referring to the testing controversy con- 
nected with Professor Robertson Smith, says : — 

The great Mission of 1873-75 had quickened the prac- 
tical use of the Bible, and the Church was studying her 
sacred books in the congregation and in the Bible-class with 
a freshness and a thoroughness hardly seen before. But 
now came the necessary complement to all that, in the 
critical study of the Scriptures; and by those who believe 
in God's Providence of His Church it has always been a 
matter of praise that the revival of the experimental study 
of the Scriptures in Scotland preceded that of the critical. 

An episode which ought not to be omitted is Wat- 
son's connection with a little society known as the Gaiety 
Club. During the winter of 1876 Drummond engaged 
the Gaiety Music Hall in Chambers Street for a num- 
ber of Sunday evenings, for meetings of men. From 
these meetings came the name of the Gaiety Club, which 
still exists. Among its members were some of the more 
brilliant young men of the times. They arranged to 
meet every spring for a week at some country inn, and 
it is amusing to learn that at first they set apart some 
evenings for criticising each other's growth or decline 



58 LIFE OF L\X MACLAREN 

during the year. This passed away, but the comrade- 
sliip became closer, and Watson's meetings with the 
Gaiety Club had a large part in his conversations. On 
the whole, I cannot but feel that his time at the New 
College was exceedingly profitable, and he gained more 
than he fancied from the teaching. Undoubtedly, how- 
ever, he gained most from brotherly comradeships. A 
freshness of "\*iyid sensation acting upon the vigorous 
energies of youth produced that condition of the feel- 
ings which elevates men to the best enthusiasms. There 
was a delightful combination of religious life with in- 
tellectual activity. There was a buoyancy of untried 
strength. 

Whether we lay in the cave or shed. 
Our sleep fell soft on the hardest bed. 

Fresh we awoke on the morrow. 

All our thoughts and words had scope; 
We had health and we had hope. 

Toil and travail but no sorrow. 

This was the period when Watson's spirit awakened to 
independent life and thought. 

As was the custom among the best students, Watson 
spent a few months in Germany. He chose the Uni- 
versity of Tubingen, favoured by Scotsmen on ac- 
count of the venerable and pious Beck, who was then 
perhaps the chief theological influence in the Univer- 
sity. Though Beck spoke broad Swabian, the warmth 
of his Christian feeling, his argumentative power, his 
learning, and his mysticism attracted and moved young 



NEW COLLEGE, EDINBLTIGH 59 

men. Drummond was also a pupil, and so was the late 
gifted R. W. Barbour, who contributed an appreciation 
of Beck to the British and Foreign Evangelical Review. 
From a little note-book it appears that Watson lived 
with great economy, and indulged in prodigious walk- 
ing tours with college companions. But in later life he 
seldom alluded to this episode. Dr. D. M. Ross 
writes : — 

Twenty-five years ago, Tubingen was a favourite resort, 
not so much perhaps for the Christian eloquence of Pro- 
fessor Beck and the New Testament scholarship of Professor 
Weizsacker, as for the beauty of the Swabian Alps, in the 
midst of whose charming scenery and picturesque country 
life the little town of Tiibingen is built, on the banks of the 
swift-flowing Neckar. As a member of the Wingolf Club, 
Mr. Watson threw himself with zest into the social life of 
the Tiibingen hurschen. He may have learned something 
of the synoptic problem and of Pentateuchal criticism in 
the University classroom, but one may be pardoned for 
suggesting that the insight he gained into German life in the 
" kneipes " at the Schottei, or Mullerei, in the ^Miitsuntide 
excursion into the Black Forest, and in summer evening 
strolls to Waldhornle, Bebenhausen, or the Wurmlinger 
Kapelle may have been the most valuable advantage he 
reaped from the semester at Tiibingen. 

Now came the time for entering the ministry. It 
will be admitted that Watson had gone through an 
elaborate preparation — four years at the University, 
four years at the New College, and a semester at Tiibin- 
gen. Though he had not distinguished himself in ex- 
aminations, he had done well in everything; he had 



60 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

been an assiduous reader and latterly an eager specula- 
tive thinker. He had moved in the atmosphere of intel- 
lectual life and free discussion, and he had associated 
on terms of comradeship with some of the brightest 
young Scotsmen of his time. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE MINISTRY— LOGIEALMOND AND 
GLASGOW 

When a Scotch divinity student concludes his course, 
he is examined by his Presbytery and licensed to preach. 
If he is popular he is soon called by a vacant congrega- 
tion, and after that he is ordained and settled in a 
charge. The intervening period is trying enough to 
many. Men have been " probationers," licensed to 
preach, but not called to a particular parish for as 
many as twenty years. Some have never been called, 
and these are described as " stickit ministers." Wat- 
son's time as a probationer was very brief, though not 
altogether bright. He became assistant to the Rev. Dr. 
J. H. Wilson in the Barclay Free Church, Edinburgh. 
Wilson was a man of the highest character and the most 
generous heart, but in some respects his thoughts and 
methods were opposed to those of his assistant, and 
they did not find each other. Watson said later on: — 

When I returned from Germany in the autumn of 1874< 
I had no idea where I would work, and had no fitness ex- 
cept quite moderate scholarship for working anywhere. 
One day walking along Princes Street I met one of my 
College friends, who is now a distinguished professor and 
writer in theology, and he asked me my plans. When I 
told him that I had none, he suggested that I should 
succeed him as assistant in one of the largest Edinburgh 

61 



62 LIFE OF IAN :\IAC LAUEN 

churches. As the assistantship in the Barclay Church was 
the blue ribbon for men leaving College, and as it was 
usually given to men of large experience and pronounced 
Evangelical views, I judged myself quite unsuitable, and I 
am of the same opinion to-day. Upon his strong recom- 
mendation, however, I was appointed, and I am afraid was 
a perplexity to my chief, one of the most devoted and 
single-minded of Scots ministers. He did not conceal from 
me that I was a poor preacher, and I was perfectly aware 
of that myself. He entrusted me. however, with a large 
amount of pastoral visitation, and an elder who was good 
enough to bid me good-bye when I left — there were only 
three or four elders knew me — cheered me with the tliought 
that though I had not the gift of preaching I might yet 
have a useful ministry in my little country charge. 

The three months which Watson spent as assistant at 
the Barclay Church were the most miserable period of 
his whole life. The pulpit nearly lost him for the Bar. 
As assistant he said : — 

I was reserved for the work of visiting elderly ladies and 
trying to bring young men into Church who did not attend. 
On rare occasions I was allowed to enter the pulpit. The 
crisis in my life came when on a Friday I was told my 
chief was suffering from a sore throat, and that I should 
have to prepare to preach the following Sunday. What 
should I do? I had usually consumed two weeks in pre- 
paring a sermon from Hodge. As I had recently lost my 
mother the miracle of Nain appealed to me, and I preached 
about a man's relation to his mother. I know it was real, 
for I felt what I said. But my chief told me he had had a 
bad report of me — I did not preach conversion. 



THE MINISTRY— LOGIEALMOND 63 

This was a trying time for Watson — for the mother 
who had pleaded with him to enter the Church was 
gone, and he wavered for a while. He thought much 
about the comparatively monotonous and commonplace 
career that lay before him. It was in one of these 
moods, no doubt, that he sketched the brown beaten 
path in which many a Scottish minister travels. 

Nothing can be more conventional than the career of 
the average Presbyterian minister who comes from a re- 
spectable religious family, and has the pulpit held up be- 
fore him as the ambition of a good Scots lad; who is held 
in the way thereto by various traditional and prudential 
considerations, and better still — as is the case with most 
honest lads — by his mother's wishes; who works his 
laborious, enduring way through the Divinity Hall, and is 
yearly examined by the local Presbytery; who at last 
emerges into the butterfly life of a Probationer, and is 
freely mentioned, to his mother's anxious delight, in con- 
nection with " vacancies " ; who is at last chosen by a 
majority to a pastorate — his mother being amazed at the 
blindness of the minority — and settles down to the routine 
of the ministry in some Scotch parish with the hope of 
Glasgow before him as a land of promise. His only varia- 
tions in the harmless years might be an outburst on the 
historical reality of the Book of Jonah — ah me! Did that 
stout, middle-aged gentleman ever hint that Jonah was a 
drama? — which would be much talked of in the common 
room, and it was whispered, reached the Professor's ears; 
and afterwards he might propose a revolutionary motion 
on the distribution of the Sustentation Fund. Add a hand- 
book for Bible classes on the Prophecy of Malachi, and 
you have summed up the adventures of his life. 



64 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

But it was with real delight that he accepted a 
call which came in 1874 to the parish of Logiealmond 
in Perthshire, which he was to make known through 
the world under the style of Drumtochty. His uncle, 
the Rev. Hiram Watson of Ratho, had been minister 
there from 1841 to 1853, coming out at the Disruption. 
Watson's predecessor was the Rev. W. A. Gray, latterly 
of Elgin, an able and cultured minister. Watson 
writes : — 

My idea was to remain as assistant in Edinburgh for 
some time if my chief was willing to keep me, but it 
happened — these happenings are very instructive in the 
afterlook — that I had once taken duty in the Free Church 
of Logiealmond because its young minister was my friend. 
When he was promoted shortly afterwards, the people 
immediately and unanimously elected me not because of 
my gifts, but again because a friend had recommended me 
— what would I have been without my friends ! — and be- 
cause my uncle, a fine scholar and most excellent parish 
clergyman, was minister of Logiealmond from about 1840 
to somewhere in the fifties, and did much for the people! 

Watson as usual underestimated his gifts. The 
young man who came to the Free Church Manse of 
Logiealmond was anything but commonplace, and this 
was speedily recognised by not a few. In the Scottish 
Church it was once thought wise that ministers should 
begin their work in small country charges, and thus 
prepare themselves for wider opportunities if these 
came. It was wise, no doubt, provided the leisure of 
a country charge was put to good use. Goethe said 



THE MINISTRY— LOGIEALMOND 65 

in his play of Tasso, " A talent moulds itself in stillness, 
but a character in the great current of the world." It 
'might perhaps be said with equal truth that talents 
are moulded by the great current of the world, and 
that characters are formed in stillness. John Watson 
was anything but a trifler. He took hold of his work 
with strong resolutions to do his best. It is now known 
that during the early years of his ministry he adopted 
much of the Roman Catholic discipline. He observed 
the fasts ; he wore a hair shirt ; he aimed strenuously 
at self-conquest and self-knowledge as well as at knowl- 
edge of books and men. All this was done in the 
strictest privacy. He gave over these methods, but he 
always maintained that moderate asceticism as a disci- 
pline of character and as a means of training men 
to master themselves is of the highest value. Another 
conviction of a Catholic mind was that worship and 
adoration ought to be a far more substantial part of 
Christian life than is usual in Protestant Churches. 
He began his preaching with an enthusiastic love for 
Christ, and this love kept running and gleaming 
through all his years like a thread of gold. He had 
little polemical ardour, and took small part on theologi- 
cal controversy, but he never at any time wavered on 
the central facts of Christianity. Dr. Ross writes: 
" Robertson of Brighton was his master in these days, 
and he shared the spiritual earnestness of his master. 
... In the years of his ministry at Logiealmond he 
was the liberal theologian as we. all knew him when he 
was at the height of his influence as a preacher." He 
was wont to illustrate the reconciliation between dogma 



66 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

and religion by a reference to a picture of the meet- 
ing of St. Dominic representing dogma, and St. Francis 
representing religion. When they met they flung their 
arms around one another and kissed each other; and 
so he was wont to say in the end would the religion of 
the soul embrace the reverent dogma of the intellect. 
He held fast to the life and death and resurrection of 
Christ, and the gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church. 
In his view all doctrinal theology was the product of 
reflection on these facts, and the attempt to hold them 
intelligently and coherently. He would have claimed 
that the essence of unity in a Church is what it be- 
lieves concerning God's mind and character and active 
manifestation in history, concerning the Divine sacri- 
fice and suffering on our behalf — in short, concerning 
the secrets of the Divine nature as far as they affect 
our standards of life and duty. 

He determined to be a preacher, and spared no 
labour towards this end. He persevered with extraor- 
dinary determination in the art of preaching without 
manuscript ; although he sometimes wondered in after 
years whether the practice had not overstrained his 
brain, he seldom entered the pulpit with anything but 
a page of notes and heads. Sometimes in these early 
days his memory would fail. " Friends," he would say, 
" that is not very clear. It was clear in my study on 
Saturday, but now I will begin again." These good 
country people never showed impatience, and a gaunt 
Highland elder came to him after service one Sunday 
and said, " When you are not remembering your ser- 
mon just give out a psalm and we will be singing that 



THE MINISTRY— LOGIEALMOND 67 

while you are taking a rest, for we all are loving you 
and praying for you." Watson once said, " I am in the 
ministry to-day because of the tenderness and charity 
of those country folk, those perfect gentlemen and 
Christians." It was in this way that he learned his 
convincing method of delivery and his great freedom 
of speech, but he always admitted the cost of the 
attainment. 

The Logiealmond days were days of real happiness. 
He looked back to them with constant tenderness. He 
loved the country, and he knew the country folk. He 
amazed the parishioners with his knowledge of crops, 
cattle, and corn markets, and all the details of their 
life. He knew the grit, the endurance, the shrewdness, 
the dry humour, the sinewy character of the people, 
and he had an extraordinary faculty of getting inside 
their minds. Though he always denied that save in a 
very few cases the originals of his characters could be 
identified, there is no doubt that Logiealmond gave him 
much. Mr. Mackenzie writes that afterwards " it was 
a great pleasure to revisit with him his old haunts 
and see how warmly welcomed he was by his old pa- 
rishioners. I never liked to bother him with questions, 
but sometimes as we went over the old ground he would 
point out to me where Flora Campbell came back or 
show me Donald Menzies's farm. He had always been 
on the most friendly terms with his brother ministers 
in the Glen, and also with the Warden and masters 
of Trinity College, Glenalmond. When he last visited 
me he joined our party to Commemoration at the Col- 
lege, and I think none who were present, especially the 



68 LIFE OF L\N MACLAREN 

boys, will ever forget his speech or his story of the 
boy who was a ' beggar to cheer.' " 

Happily, I am able to give a letter written by him 
to his friend Mr. Henry Drummond, senior, of Stirling, 
the father of Professor Drummond: — 

May gth, 1875. 

My dear Sir, — I feel certain you will be interested to 
know how things are moving with me in my retired 
corner of the Vineyard, and send you this short letter of 
intelligence. 

In the success of mere organisation, I have reason to be 
encouraged. You can judge of the numbers in proportion 
for yourself. Our proportions are very small in com- 
parison with a large Church. What I may call our internal 
proportions are I think somewhat encouraging. 

Total membership 11 6. Attendance 150. We have a 
few adherents, and about a dozen Established Church peo- 
ple attend daily. 

Y.M.C.U. Society meets at 10.30 on Sunday morning, 
nnd once a fortnight through the week. 18 Bible-class 
after service. 19 Sunday-school, after service. 25 Prayer- 
meeting on Wednesday night. About 50 as an average. 
The distances are very great. 

District meetings vary according to place. Last Sunday 
night at Enchants, a very thinly peopled place, had over a 
hundred. This was, however, exceptional. Sometimes we 
have them in a room. ^ly own work is attendance at Y.M. 
Meeting from 10.30 to 11.15, and taking a small part, 
public service at 11.30 to 1.30. Bible-class, a few words 
at Sunday-school, in evening sometimes a meeting. 

Last Sunday I preached to the children, and I monthly 



THE MINISTRY— LOGIEALMOND 69 

address them. In the service I have a prayer or part of 
one for them. The order of service is as follows: Prayer 
which is short. Praise. Prayer. Reading or exposition. 
Praise. Prayer. Sermon. Praise. Prayer. Praise. 
Benediction. In a month we shall have double service. 

In prayer-meeting we sing hymns and consider a portion 
of the Psalms. The Elders take part one each evening in 
prayer. 

This you see is all form^, all means, and can be of no 
service unless used for the Holy Ghost. It is but the sod, 
and before blessing any must blossom. 

I will say nothing of truth, it is too soon, and I cannot 
speak surely. The responsibility of preaching and the 
oversight of the people weighs me down. They are few 
perhaps, almost the smallest flock in our Church, but too 
many for me. Had I not been called as I believe by the 
Head of the Church to the work, I could not go on. But 
He is faithful and to all who are faithful giveth grace by 
the laying on of hands. The living present Lord is the 
only hope of His weak and foolish ministers. " I am with 
you." In some ways I have been cheered by an attention 
such as I have scarcely seen, and more than once there 
have been signs of feeling that were manifest and twice, 
cold and unemotional as you know me by nature to be, and 
hard of heart as I know myself to be, I have with the 
greatest difficulty continued my sermon, being deeply 
moved. Surely the Spirit working, and I am the more 
persuaded it was so, because there seemed neither intel- 
lectual nor spiritual power of any high order in the sermon. 
May God have all the praise! My visiting is most ex- 
tensive and requires more than one entire day. Exclusive 
of sick and funerals. This is interesting but most delicate 
work. I write to you as you see frankly as I do to few. 



70 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

With kindest regards to all and much respect for your- 
self, — Yours very sincerely, John Watson. 

PS. — Give my love to Henry, and you may mention we 
remember his work, daily in intercession. Surely the Lord 
has arisen to bless our land. It is a day for strong prayer. 
It is a day for pressing in. Is not the gathering at last 
unto Shiloh? 

But the true story of his Logiealmond ministry is 
to be found in his Scottish sketches. He continued his 
watchfulness over the parish, and messages passed fre- 
quently between him and one of his successors, the Rev. 
D. M. Tod. On receiving congratulations from the 
Logiealmond church Dr. Watson wrote to Mr. Tod on 
the semi-jubilee of his ministry — 

May ISth, 1900. 
Dear Mr. Tod, — It was like the Glen to think of me 
and to send that address in which I detect the hand of a 
certain young accomplished minister of the Free Kirk. I 
enclose a reply which you will convey in the way which is 
most convenient, but my reply is really in my heart. If it 
be possible I will come up and take a Sunday in the 
Autumn, and I will let you know the date in good time, 
that you may go away and have a holiday, which even the 
minister of the Glen needs at a time. At present, however, 
with my duties as Moderator I cannot be quite sure of 
my plans. 

May 18th, I9OO. 
My dear Friends, — It was with a warm heart that I 
received and read the address which you sent me in connec- 



THE MINISTRY— LOGIEALMOND 71 

tion with the twenty-fifth anniversary of my ordination^ an 
address so kindly conceived and so beautifully expressed. 

Nothing could be more encouraging to a minister than 
to know that after the lapse of a quarter of a century his 
ordination day is still remembered in the Glen where he 
began his work. 

From a great city and from very different scenes my 
thoughts turn with fondness to the slope of the Grampians, 
and the parish which was then so much secluded from the 
outer world, and where on that account the hearts were so 
true and deep. 

When wearied with the din of the city and hard-driven 
by its many demands, I often wish that I were again in the 
Manse garden, or by the side of the Almond, or on the hill 
below the quarry where the wind is blowing free and clean, 
or in the little Kirk with the familiar faces of the past, old 
and young, looking at me. . . . Oh! the days that have 
been and shall be no more, but love remaineth. 

As I go up and down England in the discharge of my 
duty as Moderator of our Church, it will strengthen me to 
know that friendly eyes follow me from the North, and 
that I am still sustained by the prayers of those to whom I 
ministered, with many imperfections but with lasting affec- 
tion, in the days of the past. — Believe me ever, your faith- 
ful friend, John Watson. 

Later on, he wrote : — 

January 12th, IQOl. 

Dear Mr. Tod, — It gives me much pleasure to know 

that the Free Church in the Glen — I ought to have said 

United, but it is hard to learn new names in your old age — 

is about to express in a tangible form the gratitude which 



72 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

for many years its members must have felt to Mrs. , 

for her services in the choir. 

My interest is greater in one way than that of any other 

person, for my ministry in the pulpit and Mrs. 's in 

the choir began, I think, about the same time, and we have 
both completed our semi-jubilee. I am sometimes ashamed 
as I think of my imperfect work, but I can bear testimony 
to the diligence and ability and real devotion with which 
my colleague in the choir discharged her duties in the 
former days, and I have good reason to believe in the days 
following. How loyal and true was the little choir of 
1875, some of whom now sing the new song of Moses and 
the Lamb where they serve God without ceasing in the 
Heavenly places. 

Please add my name to the list of subscribers, and as I 
cannot get North to the presentation, let my letter speak 
for me, and let my name be sometimes mentioned in the 
prayers of those who remember me in the Glen. 

My love to the friends of former days, and may grace, 
mercy and peace be with you all in your worship and in 
your work.— Yours faithfully, John Watson. 

It will be seen that though his ministry at Logieal- 
mond lasted for less than three years, it was a mo- 
mentous period in his life. He was a friend of all, and 
was particularly popular among his brother ministers. 
He showed in the Presbytery some liking and aptitude 
for ecclesiastical affairs. The tact and skill with which 
he guided the business of his congregation were ob- 
served, although it was only in a larger sphere that 
his administrative and strategical talents found full 
play. Above all his tolerant and sympathetic nature 



THE MINISTRY— GLASGOW 73 

^ ripened. He was one who felt as much sympathy for 
the dull as for the sickly. Sharp and acute himself, he 
suffered fools, if not patiently yet gladly, holding that 
the feeble in mind often made as gallant an effort 
to carry on the business of life in adverse circumstances 
as the feeble in body. He was gradually acquiring a 
Scottish reputation as a preacher, though, if I am 
rightly informed, he was even more unequal than most 
young ministers are. Much depended on his mood at 
the time. I remember one very competent judge who 
told me that the chief impression he gave was one of 
singular and wistful goodness. Watson was never an 
ambitious man, but it was almost inevitable that he 
should find his way to a more prominent place. It was 
his wont neither to ask for positions nor to decline 
them if they were offered to him, and if they seemed 
to give him an opportunity. So in 1877, in less than 
three years from his settlement at Logiealmond, he 
was called to Free St. Matthew's Church, Glasgow, 
as colleague and successor to Dr. Samuel Miller. 

Of his ministry in Glasgow I have very little in- 
formation. The congregation to which he was called 
was at one time one of the most powerful in the whole 
city. It was presided over by Dr. Samuel Miller, whom 
Watson characterised as " one of the most effective and 
faithful ministers, and one of the noblest men God had 
ever given to the Free Church of Scotland." Dr. Miller 
was a strong theological preacher with a full measure 
of the Disruption orthodoxy. He had vehemently op- 
posed a union between the Free Church and the United 
Presbyterian Church. In consequence of this there 



74 LIFE OF IAN :\IACLAREX 

had been dissension among his people, and a eonsiderable 
number had seceded. But though thus weakened, the 
congregation was still large and influential. I imagine 
that Watson was chosen as colleague because he was 
supposed to be in svnipathy with Dr. Miller's views. 
He was certainly in sympathy with ^Iiller*s opposition 
to DisestabKshment. Whenever the question of Dis- 
establishment was raised in a church court, Watson 
walked out. It seems also that, owing no doubt to 
tlie impression of liis environment, Watson reverted in 
Glasgow to the orthodoxy of his early years, or rather 
of the teachers of his early years, John Mihie and 
Horatius Bonar. That the congregation increased dur- 
ing his brief ministry of three years is certain, but 
he does not seem to have made a very marked or striking 
impression. This at least was his own view. But one 
of his people who knew all the circumstances wrote 
after his death as follows: — 

I heard his first sermon there, from Rev. xiv. 6. " The 
Everlasting Gospel." There were touches in it which made 
me even then think that it had been preached at Logie- 
almond — for example, he said if the Gospel ceased to be 
preached by its accredited representatives, the Spirit of the 
Lord miffht come npon some shepherd on the hills and send 
him forth to proclaim the glad tidings. 

I do not t>»ink I ever heard what first directed the atten- 
tion of St Matthew's to him. but it was by something 
which, repeated to Dr. Miller, drew from him the remark, 
" That cock will fight" 

A year or so afterwards I was constrained to connect 
mvself with his congregation. He was admired and loved 



THE MINISTRY— GLASGOW 75 

by his people as few ministers have been, and if he 
happened to preach in other churches in the city, one had 
only to look round and they would see some of his regular 
hearers. His preaching was eminently Christological, and 
one was struck by the loftiness and spirituality of his 
prayers. He took a special interest in, and always 
presided at, the Sabbath-school teachers' prayer meeting, 
and was genial and kindly to all with whom he came in 
contact. 

The senior colleague. Dr. Samuel Miller, had in his day 
been a powerful preacher of the doctrine of grace, and put 
an imprint on the congregation which lasted for almost 
two generations. There was a strong bond of affection 
between the two, as none who heard Mr. Watson's funeral 
sermon at Dr. Miller's death will forget. - Yet, while there 
was large and substantial agreement, sometimes they 
differed. Once Mr. Watson happened to preach in the 
morning from Hebrews, and expressed a doubt whether 
Paul was the writer. In the afternoon Dr. Miller also 
preached from Hebrews, and gave an elaborate defence 
of its Pauline authorship, and closed by saying that they 
were but " babes and sucklings in Christ " who thought 
otherwise ! 

Mr. Watson also took a lively interest in an additional 
mission that had been taken over by St. Matthew's, and in 
consequence of that he said he never passed a group of 
open-air preachers without stopping for a few minutes to 
listen, and then on leaving he would say, " God bless you." 
Once in private conversation he said on one occasion a 
young man was handing out tracts, but did not give Mr. 
Watson one till he asked for it. The young fellow then 
invited him to say a few words, which Mr. Watson at once 
did. At an undenominational institute I heard him give 



76 LIFE OF lAX MACLAREN 

an admirable address on " Paul's Ambition: I must see 
Rome." and was amused at the heartiness with which Dr. 
Andrew Bonar went up to him and clapped him repeatedly 
on the shoulder. 

When in St. Matthew's he was a believer in the personal 
premillennial advent. I have an idea that he was led to 
adopt those views bv his early training under ^Ir. Milne of 
Perth, the intimate associate of M'Cheyne. the Bonars^ and 
men of that school, and they gave a certain tone to his 
preaching. 

When the call from Liverpool came I wrote urging him 
to be patient and remain, and outward success was assured. 
He had not full scope in a collegiate charge, and perhaps 
a small — very small — section of the congregation was more 
in sympatliy with the old minister's preaching. The first 
Sunday after, he seemed quite perturbed, but by tlie fol- 
lowing Sunday he had recovered himself and preached a 
splendid sermon on " Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again 
I say Rejoice." 

When in St. Matthew's we did not think him a strong 
man physically, and often when looking at him I used to 
fear that he would not be a long liver. He was very 
hollow in tlie chest. 

His farewell sermon in St. Matthew's was. '* I am not 
ashamed of the Gospel of Clirist. for it is the power of 
God unto salvation." And he punctuated the text as has 
been done with Milton's line: 

" Eyele5S-in Gaza-at the mill-with slaves." 

and took as heads — " Power " *' of God " " unto salva- 
tion " " to every one that believeth." This was also his 
first sermon in Sefton Park, and a St. Matthew's elder who 
was present^ was asked by a gentlemen at the close if Mr. 



THE MINISTRY— GLASGOW 77 

Watson always preached like that, and on being told it 
was just an ordinary sermon, exclaimed, " Then the half 
has not been told ! " It was Mr. Watson's custom then, 
when preaching from home, always to take the sermon he 
had last preached to his own people. He learned that, he 
said, from an old minister. 

Some of us in St. Matthew's held that his " high-water " 
mark in preaching was when he was with us. On one of 
the few occasions on which he afterwards preached in St. 
Matthew's, I remember making a remark of this nature 
to one of the elders, and he at once said, " He is not half 
so good." 

His style of preaching changed to some extent, probably 
with a view of appealing to a wider circle of hearers. A 
writer has said, " trammelled by his association with in- 
fluential Conservative Presbyterians." That I doubt, and 
think he would have developed all his powers in Scotland 
just as well. He was a man who could not be hid, and 
was boimd to come to his own anywhere. He was a Con- 
servative in most things. Some of his later stories, notably 
The Minister of St. Jude's, relate to his experiences in 
Glasgow. He describes St. Matthew's as " a congregation 
that contains a few rich people and thinks not a little of 
itself." "John Carmichael " is just "John Watson" 
altered and adapted. 

There can be little doubt that Watson was not happy 
in Glasgow, though he alwaj^s drew a good congrega- 
tion and was supported by the j^ounger members. He 
used to recite two verdicts on his preaching which 
should perhaps be accepted with reserve. One elder 
on being asked his opinion of Watson answered, " Ah, 
weel, a nice enough young man, but there's nae future 



78 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

in his heid." When he was leaving St. Matthew's an- 
other elder, desiring to cheer him on his way, shook 
him warmly by the hand, saying, " Well, Mr. Watson, 
I wish you all success. You may be a pastor, but you'll 
never be a preacher." 

In 1880 Watson was appointed by the Free Church 
to accompany their Moderator to the English Presby- 
terian Synod in May. He says : " I addressed the 
Synod in Marylebone Church, giving an account of 
the Robertson Smith case, which I considered most 
impartial, but which, I believe, revealed to people of 
insight that I had too much sympathy with the un- 
fortunate scholar." He was told that evening that the 
special preacher who was to officiate at Sefton Park 
Church, Liverpool, had broken down, and urged to 
help in the emergency. " Against my own will, and 
against the counsel of my colleague in Glasgow, I 
preached, and as a result was offered the charge by 
the committee." When Watson took farewell of the 
Glasgow Presbytery, he frankly said that he had a 
desire to assume again the undivided charge and re- 
sponsibility which belonged to the sole ministry of a 
congregation. Tliis was so, although he acknowledged 
warmly the consideration, courtesy, and kindness with 
which Dr. Miller had always treated a comparatively 
young and most inexperienced man. At this crisis of 
his life Watson was not quite thirty years of age. As 
he always judged, the real work of his life began when 
he came to Liverpool. The rest had been preparation. 

During his ministry in Glasgow Mr. Watson was 
married to Miss Jane Bumie Ferguson, daughter of 



THE MINISTRY— GLASGOW 79 

a well-known business man in the city and nearly 
related to Sir Samuel Ferguson, the Irish poet and 
scholar. Mrs. Watson, as all his friends know, was 
the inspiration of his life, " companion of many jour- 
neys," and the tender watcher in his last illness. Like 
Richard Baxter, Watson had spoken and written in 
favour of clerical celibacy when there was no tempta- 
tion to be a Benedick. But perhaps the supreme good 
fortune of his life was that he, unlike Baxter, did not 
survive his wife. 



CHAPTER V 

HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL— PREACHING 

John Watson now commenced what he always con- 
sidered to be the real work of his life — his twenty- 
five years of ministry in Liverpool. Nothing could 
have been more complete and felicitous than the accord 
between him and his sphere. He was made for Liver- 
pool; Liverpool was made for him. It is impossible 
to exaggerate his love for Liverpool. The name of 
the city was written upon his heart. As will be seen, 
Liverpool returned his love. 

He came in the full freshness of his youth to be the 
first minister of a new congregation in the Presbyterian 
Church of England. It was fortunate that he had to 
create his own audience. Like most Celts he needed 
the inspiration of growth for his full happiness and 
efficiency. He would have faced adverse circumstances, 
but he was stimulated even more than most by the signs 
of progress, and to the end of his Liverpool ministry 
there was no ebbing of the tide. Again, he was a 
man who needed sympathy, and was disheartened by 
coldness or by enmity. In Liverpool he had for a con- 
gregation men and women whom he had personally 
attracted, and with whom he was perfectly at home. 
The Presbyterian Church of England is comparatively 
small when measured with other religious communities, 
but it has been for many years progressive, and it has 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 81 

a character of its own as it were midway between the 
Church of England and the powerful Nonconformist 
bodies. Watson was perfectly at home among the Eng- 
lish Presbyterians, and his loyalty to them and his 
conviction that they had a work to do in England 
never faltered. They were largely Scotch either by 
birth or by descent, but a very considerable number 
were connected with them who found themselves not 
quite at home either in the Church or in Noncon- 
formity. They were by no means uniform in their 
political convictions, and their comparative paucity in 
point of numbers allowed a great measure of inde- 
pendence to separate congregations, much more than 
could be realised in Scotland. Among them Watson 
sprang at once to his full stature. He threw aside the 
opinions that were merely prejudices, and applied his 
many-sided nature in all its force to the attraction and 
instruction of his people. His ministry was success- 
ful from the very first, and in no long time he was one 
of the most prominent personalities in the city. 

Here it is right that I should say something about 
the religious history and conditions of Liverpool, and 
I can find no better guide than Sir Edward Russell, 
who has been for many years part of the life of 
the city, who was also for so long one of the most 
attached and trusted of John Watson's friends. 

The distinguished men in the religious life of Liver- 
pool were Hugh M'Neile, Dr. Raffles, Hugh Stowell 
Brown, C. M. Birrell, Dr. James Martineau, John 
Hamilton Thom, and Charles Beard, and later on 
Father Nugent and Charles Garrett. The Orange 



82 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

Protestants and the Irish Roman Catholics were 
strongly represented, and came into frequent conflict. 
Canon M'Neile was a leader of the Evangelical party, 
and the religious leader of the Liverpool people. He 
did not rule the Nonconformists nor the Liberals, but 
he always secured by religious influence the Tory ma- 
jority. A pronounced Protestant, he manned the pul- 
pits of Liverpool with men like-minded. He was even 
more concerned for Evangelical religion than for 
Protestant political zeal, and it was in the elucidation 
of the Scriptures, not otherwise, that he exercised as 
preacher his religious powers. It was perhaps upon 
the platform that his magnificent oratorical powers 
were displayed most eff'ectively. Sir Edward Russell 
tells of a speech he delivered on Governor Eyre's action 
in Jamaica. The audience was hotly divided, but 
M'Neile, who was the chief orator, showed his usual 
impassive dignity. He surveyed unperturbed the vast 
audience. Every one heard easily the familiar, deep 
tones which without apparent eff*ort filled any building 
in the world. In an opening sentence or two he said 
that as there was so much legitimate diff*erence of 
opinion, he would state each of the two cases separately. 
The audience was half-amused, and altogether soothed. 
Amid a deep silence he detailed in deliberate accents and 
with unsparing truth the things that had been done in 
Jamaica. The silence was absolute — almost painful. 
Suddenly, as the fatal indictment was coming to an 
end, a dog that had somehow got into the meeting 
set up horrible squeals and howls. There was great 
confusion while the disturber was got at and ejected, 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 83 

a proceeding which took quite a time. M'Neile stood 
motionless for all this interval, waiting for perfect si- 
lence. When it came he slowly waved his arm, and in 
his deepest tragedy voice said, " The very dogs bark 
at it." " Never was there a more splendid cowp. Simple 
as it now seems, it was quite unexpected, and its effect 
was irresistible. I have often thought the dog saved 
the meeting." Among M'Neile's allies was Archdeacon 
Jones. Of him it is told that he brought the Glad- 
stones over to the Church of England. Mr. Gladstone's 
father was a substantial and active Presbyterian. He 
became inclined to go over to the Church of England, 
but was deterred by the disinclination of his wife, who 
was not satisfied with the Anglican preaching. Her 
husband took her round the churches, and at last 
brought her to Mr. Jones. Both were pleased, and 
the husband proposed to the wife that he should build 
a church for Mr. Jones, and that they should attend 
it. The bargain was struck, and this is how Mr. Glad- 
stone was brought up in the Church of England. He 
was born a Presbyterian, and was six years old when 
his father passed from the Scotch to the English Estab- 
lishment bringing his wife with him. Dr. Raffles, who 
for many years led the Congregationalists, was a great 
orator, a man of the warmest affection and the largest 
charity. It was said of him that he could not speak 
unkindly of a mad dog. Hugh Stowell Brown and 
C. M. Birrell (the father of Mr. Augustine Birrell) 
were Baptists differing exceedingly in their ways of 
preaching, but warmly attached as friends, and in full 
inner harmony. It is needless to say that Martineau, 



84 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

Thorn, and Beard were Unitarians. John Watson used 
to maintain, however, that Thorn and Beard were not 
Unitarians, but Arians, and in common with the whole 
city he regarded with admiration and pride their un- 
questioned gifts of sanctity and intellect. It may be 
doubted whether in any city of England Unitarians 
were better represented than they had been in Liverpool. 

Watson had very little part in the Protestant con- 
troversy. With many of the Evangelical clergy, includ- 
ing Bishop Ryle and Bishop Chavasse, he was on terms 
of cordial friendship. There was in him a deep and 
passionate Evangelicalism, and to Evangelical teaching 
as shown in spiritual earnestness he always responded 
eagerly. His relations with the Roman Catholic priests, 
and to a lesser extent with the High Church clergy, 
were even more cordial. There was a side of his nature 
that turned their way. But he was also very much 
drawn by the literary culture, the piety, and the noble 
ethical teaching of the Unitarians. While he main- 
tained the best relations with the Evangehcal Noncon- 
formists, he was for long less intimate with them than 
with others of the Liverpool ministers. 

His strength lay in the many-sidedness of his sym- 
pathies. He could preach sermons which pleased the 
Evangelicals ; sermons which pleased the Unitarians ; 
sermons indicating great breadth, and sermons of such 
intensity and urgent appeal that they might have come 
from a flaming evangelist in the great revival. Thus 
he was able to draw round him a congregation of very 
various constituents. They might not be all equally 
well pleased on any Sunday, but very soon they heard 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 85 

a sermon to which they could Hsten with perfect satis- 
faction. I need hardly say that there was not the 
faintest touch of insincerity or unreality in all this 
range of method. Watson was simply expressing his 
mood, and the largeness of his comprehension enabled 
him to understand the spiritual needs of men who in 
their training and in their dogmatic convictions were 
far apart. There were very few congregations in Eng- 
land made up of recruits from so many armies as Sefton 
Park Church. He said himself three years before his 
death : " Not only have we members of every shade of 
Presbyterianism — Scots, Irish, English, Canadian, Es- 
tablished Church, Free Church, and United Presby- 
terian, — but we have had people of many nations — 
French, Germans, Swiss, Danes, North Americans, 
South Americans, Russians, Greeks, Austrians, Bel- 
gians — and as many creeds, high and low, narrow and 
broad, and no creed at all. I have taken a section of 
fourteen pews, and I find, so far as I know, that the 
following is its ecclesiastical ancestry: four Presbyte- 
rian families, six Episcopalian, four Congregationalist, 
three Baptist, two Welsh, two Unitarian, two Ger- 
man, one Swiss." Liverpool is a large cosmopolitan 
world, and Watson's singular adaptability had a most 
congenial outlet there. Liverpool was always respon- 
sive. But there was never any doubt as to the real 
drift of the preaching. Watson was always a convinced 
Evangelical of broad sympathies which perhaps grew 
broader and broader. He understood them all — the 
mystic, the Catholic, the Evangelical, the revivalist, the 
moralist, the sceptic, and for each as the time came 



86 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

round he had a living message. He said at the close 
of his first sermon in Sefton Park Church: — 

Brethren, I feel sure that these words have made my 
aim as a preacher clear to you all. I shall not try to 
astonish you with any display of learning, nor attract you 
by the mere eloquence of words, but I promise by the grace 
of God and according to my ability to preach the Cross of 
Christ. The Cross as I understand it combines both the 
doctrine of forgiveness and the doctrine of holiness, and I 
trust to be able also to show that a Christ who is our sacri- 
fice is also our ideal. Some of you may prefer one doctrine, 
some the other, I am sure you will all see both are neces- 
sary. If I seem unpractical, ask yourselves if the fault 
be altogether mine, if personal do not suppose this inten- 
tional, do not weary when I ask your faith, do not be angry 
when I point out duty, but always search the Scriptures 
and see whether these things are not so, and so we will be 
blessed. 

Beloved brethren, the double responsibility of work and 
prayer lies on me, the responsibility of prayer lies also on 
you. Pray that I may be led into the truth myself, and so 
be able to lead you. Pray that I may be able to deal 
honestly with intellectual difficulties and wisely with cases 
of conscience. Pray that I may have grace to speak 
tenderly to mourners and simply to the children. Pray 
that I may ever be found offering a full and free Christ 
to sinners, and exhorting the saints to follow Him more 
closely. Pray I beseech you that the messenger may be 
lost in his message, that if any good results should come of 
his preaching the glory may be all given unto the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost, one God now and for ever. 
Amen. 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 87 

In this key he continued and ended his ministry. 

The outward results of his work were very remark- 
able. He began with 133 members, but among them 
were many strong and wise men prepared to back their 
minister, and both generous and loyal. The popula- 
tion of the district was rapidly increasing. A beautiful 
church had been erected, and at the opening more than 
£1000 was subscribed. Everything was favourable, and 
in a few years the church was full. The congregation 
numbered some 700 members; every seat was let; and 
the contributions amounted to more than £5000 a year, 
while there were 1200 children in the Sunday-schools. 
Branch churches were erected at Earle Road and Smith- 
down Road, and the Balfour Institute for social work 
was opened in 1889. This was built in recognition of 
the late Mr. Alexander Balfour's unwearied efforts for 
the social and moral elevation of his fellow-citizens. In 
short, every department of Church work was steadily 
prosperous. Watson said himself in 1900 : " If you ask 
me what have been the conditions of the success God 
has given us, or in other words the salient features of 
our history, they may be stated in order of importance 
from the least to the greatest thus: A good site, no 
debt, hearty liberality, a cheerful service, making 
strangers welcome, active work, no drones, wise office- 
bearers, internal peace, external charity, Wednesday 
service, and a desire to do God's will." This 
was his own modest reckoning, but unquestionably 
the prosperity of the church was mainly due to the 
brilliant abilities and the unstinted devotion of the 
minister. 



88 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

The late James Ashcroft Noble, himself a Liverpool 
man, summed up his impressions of a Sefton Park 
service as follows: — 

He addressed his hearers not from some platform of 
scholastic thinking and hypothetical experience, but from 
a homely stable ground, common to him and to them and 
to the whole world of men and women. . . . When on that 
Sunday night I looked round upon the congregation which 
densely packed both floors and galleries, I knew from 
common rumour that I was looking upon a crowd in which 
were representatives of all that was finest in thought and 
noblest in character among the men and women of the 
great city of Liverpool. The simple Presbyterian service 
relieved of its primal northern baldness, but unspoiled by 
florid and incongruous adornment, had a peculiar impres- 
siveness. For the first few moments of the preacher's dis- 
course it could be said that this impressiveness was pre- 
served, but hardly that it was intensified, for Mr. Watson's 
manner in the pulpit is as free from prepared effectiveness 
as his manner in the study — it has no ad captandum 
quality, no rhetorical trick. But before five minutes had 
passed I became aware that I and the hundreds by whom 
I was surrounded were listening to an utterance of quite 
exceptional grasp and weight. 

Watson on various occasions, and particularly in 
his book The Cure of Souls, which contains the lectures 
on Practical Theology delivered by him at Yale Uni- 
versity in 1896, has carefully explained his views on 
preaching. In what follows I borrow first from him; 
next from those who were familiar with his pulpit work ; 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 89 

and I also incorporate mj own impressions of the occa- 
sions when I heard him preach both in his own church 
and in others. 

He held that the critical and influential event in the 
religious week is the sermon. Whenever preaching falls 
into low esteem, the Church becomes weak and corrupt. 
It is impossible to exaggerate the opportunity given 
to the preacher when he ascends the pulpit and faces 
his congregation. There his business is not so much to 
teach or define as to stimulate and encourage. This 
work cannot be done rightly without inspiration, but 
this inspiration only rests on the outcome of hard, 
honest work. 

Among the elements of the work the first is Selection, 
and the text should select the man rather than the 
man the text. " As the minister was busy with study, 
or as he sat by the bedside of the sick, or as he walked 
the crowded street, or as he wandered over the purple 
heather, or — such things have happened, the grace of 
God being sovereign — as he endured in a Church Court, 
the truth, clad in a text, which is the more or less 
perfect dress of the Spirit, suddenly appeared and 
claimed his acquaintance." Such an experience means 
the pre-established harmony between a particular truth 
and the soul of a minister. 

The second process is Separation, and this means that 
the sermon should be a monograph and not an encyclo- 
psedia. The handling of one idea is sufficient. " He's 
a good preacher " — a Highland gamekeeper was de- 
scribing his minister, — " but he scatters terribly." The 
sermon should be like a single rifle-bullet which, if it 



90 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

hits, kills, not a charge of small shot which only pep- 
pers. The next process is Illumination. It is the 
setting of the bare, cold, lifeless idea in the light of 
all he has read, has seen, has felt, has suffered. Here 
it is that culture comes in. The student has an invalua- 
ble advantage over the ablest PhiHstine. " Those morn- 
ings given to Plato, that visit to Florence where he got 
an insight into Italian art, that hard-won trip to 
Egypt, the birthplace of civilisation, his sustained ac- 
quaintance with Virgil, his by-study of physical science, 
his taste in music, the subtlest and most religious of 
the arts, all now rally to his aid." The fourth process 
is Meditation. The idea must be removed from the 
light, where reason and imagination have their sphere, 
and be hidden away in the dark chambers of the soul. 
Many masterly sermons fail because they have never 
had the benefit of this process. They are clear, inter- 
esting, eloquent, but helpless. The brooding over a 
spiritual experience where the subject is hidden in the 
soul as leaven in three measures of meal till all be leav- 
ened gives preaching the greater qualities of the past, 
depth of experience, and an atmosphere of peace. 

Then comes Elaboration, the placing, reviewing, 
transposing, till the way stands fair and open from 
Alpha to Omega — a clean, straight furrow from end 
to end of the field. There should be no introduction; 
nothing more certainly takes the edge off the appetite 
than the laborious preface. The latest results of the 
criticism on the book from which the text is taken 
should be severely left alone. Elaborate perorations are 
also to be put aside. 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 91 

When a speaker is pleading a great cause, and sees hard- 
headed men glaring before them with such ferocity that 
every one knows they are afraid of breaking down, let him 
stop in the middle of a paragraph and take the collection, 
and if he be declaring the Evangel, and a certain tender- 
ness comes over the faces of the people, let him close his 
words to them and call them to prayer. Speech can be too 
lengthy, too formal, too eloquent, too grammatical. For 
one to lose his toilsome introduction, in which he happened 
to mention two Germans, with quotations, and his twice- 
written conclusion, in which he had that pretty fancy from 
Tennyson, is hard to flesh and blood. . . . But in those 
sacrifices of self the preacher's strength lies, on them the 
blessing of God rests. 

Revision comes last, and that should be done with 
an earnest consideration of those who are to hear the 
sermon. 

A well-turned epigram, which cost much toil: but that 
white-haired saint will misunderstand it. Our St. John 
must not be grieved. So it must go. A very impressive 
word of the new scientific coinage: what can yon semp- 
stress make of it.^* Rich people have many pleasures, she 
has only her church. Well, she shall have it without re- 
bate: the big word is erased — half a line in mourning. A 
shrewd hit at a certain weakness : but that dear old mother, 
whose house is a refuge for orphans and all kinds of miser- 
ables, it is just possible she may be hurt. The minister 
had not thought of her till he said the words with Dorcas 
sitting in her corner. Another black line in the fair manu- 
script. This exposure of narrowness is at any rate justi- 
fied: but the minister sees one face redden, and its owner is 



92 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

as true a man as God ever made. It is left out too. Some- 
what strong that statement: an adjective shall be omitted: 
some people have a delicate sense of words. This quip 
may excite a laugh: better not — it may hinder the force 
of the next passage on Jesus. The sermon seems to be 
losing at every turn in harmony, vivacity, richness, ease; 
it is gaining in persuasiveness, understanding, sympathy, 
love : it is losing what is human and gaining what is divine ; 
and after that sermon is delivered, and has passed into 
men's lives, the preacher will bless God for every word 
he removed. 

Of Watson himself it may be said without fear that 
he did not shirk the labour involved in these counsels. 
He was one of the most patient and persistent of stu- 
dents, and the fruit of all his labour went into his 
sermons. It was for this that he read, observed, trav- 
elled, thought, and prayed. Though not an omnivo- 
rous reader, he carefully accumulated a well-selected 
library of the best books in theology, in history, and in 
English literature generally. He did not care to read 
inferior or ephemeral books except as an occasional re- 
lief, and he found no room for them on his shelves. But 
he was especially careful to have the latest authoritative 
works on Biblical criticism and theology, though he read 
few sermons. His preference was for historical reading, 
especially the history of Scotland, and in the depart- 
ment of history few modern books of weight were absent 
from his collection. I well remember the enthusiasm 
with which he hailed the beginning of the Cambridge 
Modern History. He delighted in the fine editions of 
the English classics, and his chief favourites were per- 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 93 

haps Shakespeare, Thackeray, and Charles Lamb. 
With these and a few others he was so familiar that 
he might have said that their books had passed like 
iron atoms into his mental constitution. Among theo- 
logians he was wont to mention Fairbairn, Gore, and 
Martineau. From theological writers who had no style 
he turned away. The Puritan divines gave him little, 
and he often expatiated in private on the absence of 
the great antiseptic from their productions. Every 
morning was set aside for hard study. He spent the 
week in meditating over his subjects and in gathering 
together his material. Many notes would be made 
in this process. Towards the end of the week he wrote 
his two sermons. There was rarely a slovenly sentence 
in them, and never a tedious and laboured conclusion. 
On Sunday morning he wrote out a final list of heads, 
and with the sermon committed to memory entered the 
pulpit. Although an excellent extempore speaker, he 
still preferred to write out everything beforehand if 
possible, and then commit it to memory. He never 
preached old sermons without great changes, usually 
rewriting and reconstructing the entire manuscript, 
building up a new discourse on the old framework, and 
giving if necessary more suitable illustrations. " You 
outgrow sermons," he once said, " as you outgrow 
clothes." The level of his preaching was thus singu- 
larly even. A member of the congregation says he 
only heard him once preach a poor sermon. He was 
greatly astonished, but some time afterwards he learned 
that Watson sat with a dying elder of his church 
through the whole of Saturday night, and had reached 



94 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

his pulpit on the Sunday weary and depressed. But 
his hearers never knew. They only wondered why he 
faltered and looked worn out. 

Before most of his contemporaries Watson learned 
that preaching had to adapt itself to the new con- 
ditions. He would often refer half satirically, half 
regretfully to the tranquil old days : — 

There are moments when the calmness and regularity of 
the worthies of last generation drive us to despair, as when 
one reads from the diary of the Rev. Joseph Tomlinson, in 
the memorial volume issued after his death, and much 
valued by his congregation: — 

"December 10 (Monday). — Rose at 5.30, although 
tempted to remain in bed owing to the darkness and cold. 
Completed the first head of my seventh sermon in the 
course on Sanctification before breakfast. Have now ser- 
mons prepared for the next three months, and note with 
thankfulness that I can produce three sheets hourly with- 
out fail." 

The good man died in the fifties, at the age of eighty-six, 
having preached till ten days before his death, and never 
having been once out of his pulpit through sickness; and 
one has a distinct vision of him moving about with great 
authority and dignity among his people, and a vague recol- 
lection of his thundering in a sermon against those who 
denied creation in six literal days, — " which showed to 
what a height of insolent audacity infidelity was rising in 
those days." 

This early rising, which is a marked feature in such 
biographies, and a needless irritation unto the generations 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 95 

following — this turning out of sermons by machinery, in 
longhand writing without an erasure, and sometimes on 
pink paper — this immunity from perplexing questions — 
this infallibility in doctrine, as well as the fixed, smooth, 
untroubled face at the beginning of the book, suggest an 
atmosphere very different from that in which we think 
and labour. 

Watson himself had begun to live in a time when 
people knew what to expect and the minister said what 
was to be expected. He keenly realised that the atmos- 
pheric conditions had changed, and that a minister had 
to find truths which held him if he was to hold the 
people. A modern audience is sensitive and detects the 
difference between reality and unreality without fail. 
This created difficulties, and these were increased by the 
fact that preachers have now to attract an audience. 
They cannot hope any more that people will come from 
a sense of duty. In Watson's view sensationalism, ec- 
centricity, anecdotage were all to be deprecated. 
" Against religious sensationalism, outre sayings, start- 
ling advertisements, profane words, and irreverent 
prayers, the younger ministry must make an unflinch- 
ing stand, for the sake of the Church and the world, 
for the sake of our profession and ourselves." But he 
believed that what could be done to make style and 
manner winsome ought to be done. The demands of the 
age must be met, as far as might be. The preacher 
had to recognise that the Gospel now addresses itself 
to the masses. " When tides meet there is broken 
water, and many are tossed in their minds as to whether 
the pulpit ought to give its strength to the regenera- 



96 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

tion of the individual or of society." On this point 
he held that while the Church must labour to bring 
heaven here, that heaven is long of coming, and mean- 
while the Church must comfort the oppressed, the suffer- 
ing, and the beaten with the vision of the City of God. 
But if in any critical conflict between the poor and 
the rich, the minister of Jesus sides with the strongest 
he has broken his commission and forsaken his Master. 
The preacher must acknowledge and welcome the large 
and solid contribution made by criticism to our knowl- 
edge of the Bible. At the same time the introduction 
of details of Biblical criticism into the pulpit would 
be tiresome and irritating as well as arid and unedify- 
ing to the last degree. What the minister should do 
is to give careful and systematic instruction in the 
literary and historical circumstances of the Bible to 
classes where the pupils can have the full benefit of his 
knowledge. What is wanted above everything is posi- 
tive preaching by men who believe with all their mind 
and heart in Jesus Christ. Theology has its great 
value, but it is only a theory of religion, and theology 
which has not been in the main current of letters is 
invariably stranded in some creek and forgotten. The 
minister ought to leaven his preaching with theology, 
and while in other departments of knowledge one must 
know to love, in Christian theology one must love to 
know. 

He held in substance that religion has three places 
of abode — in the reason, which is Theology ; in the con- 
science, which is Ethics; and in the heart, which is 
Quietism. His belief was that the Church was return- 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 97 

ing to Christ, to a true and sane mysticism. The work 
of the immediate future was the reconstruction of 
dogma commenced by writers Hke Gore and Fairbairn, 
but still needing to be carried through. He looked 
forward passionately to the glorious day when the 
theology of the Christian Church should rise again, 
having lost nothing that was good and true in the 
past, and be reconstructed on the double foundation of 
the divine Fatherhood and the Incarnation of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. These were the truths which he preached 
with surpassing power and unshaken faith. 

There is some difference of opinion about Watson's 
oratorical powers. No doubt there have been greater 
orators, but in his later period at least there were very 
few to match him. His tall and commanding figure, his 
resonant voice, his power of adaptation, and his intense 
earnestness enabled him to arrest, captivate, and influ- 
ence an audience as few have ever done. He himself 
judged his gift of speech very humbly. He always 
regretted that he had never studied elocution, which 
he regarded as extremely important. His manner was 
rarely rhetorical or dramatic. As a young man he was 
inclined to vehemence in the pulpit, but in later years 
he became calmer. Zealot as he was, he had learned 
to hold himself well in hand. His gestures were natural 
and never exaggerated — an occasional lift of the hand 
to command attention, very rarely more. The inflec- 
tions of his voice and his great command of facial ex- 
pression riveted his hearers. His voice would some- 
times be a trifle harsh, and sometimes sink into an 



98 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

inaudible whisper, especially at the end of sentences. 
When I first heard him he preached on the character 
of Jacob. He stated the case for and the case against 
like an accomplished lawyer, and then summed up as 
an impartial judge. It was intensely interesting, but 
the real effect was produced by a few electric sentences 
at the end. He seemed to me most successful when he 
was in his own pulpit. I have known him elsewhere 
somewhat impair the effect of his sermons by sustained 
irony or by needless witticisms. But from the pulpit 
of Sefton Park he spoke as one master of himself, his 
subject, and his audience. Sir Edward Russell, who 
had many opportunities of hearing him, is decidedly 
of opinion that when he resigned his charge he was at 
his very best as a preacher, having distinctly advanced 
and ripened in melody, and ease, and eloquence. At 
first there was something of the Scottish tone and man- 
ner which Englishmen find difficult of assimilation. " In 
recent years, and more especially in recent months, the 
feeling has been distinctly lessened, and a facility, a rich 
pouring forth of natural thought in natural words 
without any diminution of profundity or keenness have 
convinced me that just at the time when he unhappily 
felt bound to retire from his work, John Watson has 
reached the zenith of his oratorical efficiency." To 
others who knew his preaching well, he seemed to com- 
bine a dauntless ministry of righteousness with a wide 
and subtle knowledge of men's lives, and a mysticism 
which helped him to receive spiritual truth by intuition 
as well as by exertion of thought and faithfulness to 
reason. He was indeed an interpreter of the divine 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 99 

providence and in particular of complex human expe- 
rience. His work was not so much to expose the defects 
of society, though he could do that on occasion, but 
to place constructive ideals before men. But here I 
am much helped by the admirable sketch sent to me by 
a lady who was a member of his church from 1884 
to 1896. 

I well remember the Sunday evening on which I first 
heard him preach. When contemplating a removal to the 
neighbourhood of Sefton Park, it had been decided to at- 
tend a certain Church of England^ when on this particular 
day a member of the family mentioned there was a fine 
preacher at Sefton Park Presbyterian Church, and sug- 
gested attending the evening service. We sallied forth, a 
large family party, and were accommodated with seats in 
different parts of the Church. The subject of the sermon 
was '* John Mark " — one of those wonderful biographical 
sketches in which Dr. Watson excelled; full of insight, of 
understanding, of gallant, uplifting thought. Before that 
sermon was half over I had come to a decision, and had 
braced myself to defy opposition. When the scattered 
family met once more on the way home I launched my 
bolt: — "I am going to join Sefton Park Church!" when 
behold the expected opposition came in a simultaneous 
chorus of "So am I ! " and from that moment there was no 
talk of another church. 

It was, I think, a somewhat unusual experience to fall 
under the spell of Dr. Watson's preaching at a first hear- 
ing. Many people went away disappointed after a first 
visit to the church, but I have never met one whose dis- 
appointment was not changed into warmest admiration at 
the end of a month. His delivery was somewhat difficult 



100 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

to follow, and strangers found his voice a trifle hard, but 
they soon discovered that it had a wonderful eloquence of 
its own, and — on occasions — a quite irresistible pathos. 

I have never seen a preacher whose demeanour in the 
pulpit was more dignified and impressive. His people will 
recall the quiet lift of the right hand with which he would 
invoke instant, intense stillness in a crowded congregation, 
and which was the summons to the simple prayer which 
began the service; and one of the moments in which I most 
love to recall him was while the hymn before the sermon 
was being sung. He would join heartily in the first few 
verses, but before the end would cease singing, and stand 
silently, bending slightly forward, turning his head from 
► side to side with quick, intent glances — as if noting the 
different members of his congregation, calling to remem- 
brance their separate trials and sorrows, and bracing him- 
self to meet them. Every Sunday afresh I was reminded 
of the words — " as one who girdeth himself to run a race.** 
Dr. Watson's prayers had a dignity not often noticeable in 
extempore utterances, and withal a most widespread re- 
membrance of different members of the community. He 
would pray not only for the sick, but for " those who wait 
upon them " ; for " the little children at home " ; for " the 
boys and girls at school " ; for " those bereft of the kindly 
light of reason '* ; for " those who have fallen into sin, 
and for whom the help of man is vain " ; and continuously, 
and with most tender emphasis, for " lonely people." This 
last prayer to my knowledge endeared him greatly to 
many who came under that sad category, but who left the 
church heartened to find that they were not forgotten. 

Dr. Watson's preaching was extempore in effect, for 
though a manuscript was always before him for reference, a 
quick turn to of the leaves now and then, was the only sign 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 101 

of its presence. He never read, yet as the following anec- 
dote will show, his memory was wonderfully accurate. His 
sermons were so original and striking that it was im- 
possible to forget them, yet he bravely repeated several of 
their number from time to time; sometimes at the request 
of a member of the congregation, always, I think, to the 
pleasure of his hearers. My own memory — sadly deficient 
in some directions, is tenacious of words, and in listening 
to these repeated sermons I used to wait in a sort of tremor 
to hear whether at certain telling passages, the right word 
would come in the right place. I once said to him — " I 
knew that that illustration about the pool was coming, 
and waited to see if you would call it * the sullen pool,' as 
you did before. If you had said * the turgid pool,* or 

* the muddy pool,' I think I should almost have been 
obliged to correct you ! " He asked eagerly, ** And did I 
say * sullen '.f*" and on receiving an affirmative answer, 
"That's very interesting!" he said, "very interesting. I 
did not know I repeated myself so exactly. I suppose the 
original idea was so vivid, that it remains imprinted in my 
mind." 

One Sunday evening as a very rare exception I elected 
to stay at home, and on my sister's return from church 
questioned her about the service. She looked at me in a 
sympathetic manner, and said quietly, ** He preached on 

* The Peace of God.' " I had heard that sermon twice 
before, but after all these years the intense disappoint- 
ment of that moment remains with me. The opportunity 
of hearing that most beautiful message a third time had 
been mine, and I had wilfully thrown it away. I could 
not forgive myself, and the entire family circle condoled 
with me on my loss. Of how many preachers could such 
an incident be recorded.^ 



102 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

Dr. Watson was fond of preaching short series of ser- 
mons, announcing in advance the general subject and the 
points to be taken up in sequence, and these were always 
of intense interest. He had a great gift of character study, 
and of reading between the lines in the Bible narrative 
many things which escaped the ordinary student. At the 
end of such sermons he would often give a clever and 
humorous sketch of the Bible character as it would appear 
in the present day, which sketch drove home his point in 
irresistible fashion. It is safe to say that after his series 
of sermons on the women of the Old Testament, few of the 
matrons in Sefton Park Church escaped being christened 
by a new name by their husbands and families ! 

His sermons to young men on Sunday evenings were 
largely attended by the class whom he most wished to 
attract, and I had it on the authority of a young girl that 
one sermon on ** Chivalry " was the talk of many of her 
partners at a ball, and that one of them told her that on 
the Monday morning groups of young men were to be 
found eagerly discussing it on the Exchange. " He gave 
it us straight," said one, " and we deserved it." 

Before his illness in 1889 Dr. Watson had no assistant 
and took all the services himself, including various classes 
during the week, notably one for the ladies of the congre- 
gation which is still remembered gratefully by those who 
were fortunate enough to have the benefit of his teaching. 
More than any one I have ever met he seemed to have the 
gift of putting himself in the place of another, and no 
woman could have dealt more sympathetically or wisely 
with the trials and irritations which beset the life of the 
mistress of a household. 

Fine as was Dr. Watson's pulpit oratory it always 
seemed to one that it was on the quieter and more intimate 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL lOS 

occasions that he rose to his highest level. When, for 
instance, he stood beside the desk in the lecture hall on 
Wednesday evenings, " talking " rather than preaching to 
an audience packed to overflowing; or after the quarterly 
Communion Service, when he rose to his feet and spoke the 
few beautiful, moving words which made a fitting ending 
to the service. 

His appearance at such times was very striking, es- 
pecially before his illness in 1889:, when an air of intense 
fragility added to the spirituality of his expression. 

When he came to sum up his impressions of preach- 
ing he lamented that he had not made his sermons 
shorter. 

Years ago a minister came into my vestry after evening 
service and said he should like to have a word with me. It 
was winter time and he was an old man, so I wheeled my 
most comfortable chair to the fireplace and besought him 
to be seated, also to deliver his mind, for it is always a 
privilege to have a word in season from a man who has 
grown old in the ministry. He told me that he was a 
country minister in the north of Scotland, and I think he 
said a clerk of his Presbytery, which at least proved that 
he had the reputation for sound judgment, and that he was 
liked by his brethren. 

" I happened," he went on to say, " to be in Liverpool 
this Sabbath without duty, and I determined to worship 
once in your Church, because " — and now he smiled at me 
good-naturedly — " I did not hear a good account of you 
or of your church. 

" The rumour went " — and everything was touched with 
his pleasant smile — " that you were too broad and your 



104 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

service too high for a Presbyterian Church; and so I hor- 
rified my hosts, who are of the straitest set, by coming out 
to Sefton Park Church. I saw nothing/' he concluded, 
** and I heard nothing, of which I could disapprove, and I 
wish you well. Mine has been a long ministry, and it is 
drawing to its close; and this I can truly say, of its later 
period at least, every year I have been growing broader 
and preaching shorter." He gave me his blessing, and I 
judge that he has now rendered in a good account of his 
stewardship. 

He also came to think that he had spent too little 
time on the form of his sermons. The want of dis- 
tinction in the case of a speaker dealing with the most 
majestic ideas he thought a crime. " It is a species 
of profanity. It is an act of intellectual indecency." 
He said that if he went back he would seek more 
earnestly a becoming dress for the message of God. 
'* Evangelistic preaching has seemed to me to be, as a 
rule, careless to a scandal, and almost squalid in style, 
with vain repetitions of hackneyed words by way of 
exhortation and with incredible anecdotes by way of 
illustration." But he thought the time would come 
when the preacher would be held responsible not only 
for the truth which he declared, but for the dress in 
which he clothed it. He also held that the chief end 
of preaching was comfort. He had no faith in sermons 
on Biblical criticism and philosophy. " Never can I 
forget what a distinguished scholar, who used to sit 
in my church, once said to me, ' Your best work in the 
pulpit has been to put heart into men for the coming 
week.' I wish I had put more. And when I have in 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 105 

my day, like us all, attempted to reconcile science and 
religion, one of the greatest men of science, who used 
also to be a hearer in my church, never seemed to be 
interested, but when I dealt with the deep affairs of 
the soul, he would come round in the afternoon to talk 
it out." He held specially that the preacher should 
be a preacher of Christ. " I now clearly see every 
sentence should suggest Christ, and every sermon, even 
though His name had not been mentioned, nor His 
words quoted, should leave the hearer at the feet of 
Christ." He recalled a story told him " by an eminent 
and saintly Roman ecclesiastic, who was my dear friend, 
about Faber. Shortly before the poet died, he had 
visited my friend, and was asked to address the senior 
pupils in a certain school. Faber explained that he 
was now too weak to speak, but he consented to give 
them his blessing. Before doing so he said he would 
like to say one word to them, and as it could only 
be a word, it must be about Christ. Whereupon he 
began to give the titles of the Lord Jesus from the 
beginning of the Bible, as the mystics found them, on 
to the Book of Revelation, and when he ceased he had 
spoken for five-and-twenty minutes singing the high 
praise of the Lord. ' Faber was a great lover of the 
Lord,' said my friend, ' and in Him we are all one.' 
As it now appears to me, the chief effort of every 
sermon should be to unveil Christ, and the chief art 
of the preacher to conceal himself." 

As might have been expected Watson attached great 
importance to public worship. He held that those who 



106 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

depreciate the service and those who depreciate the 
sermon are ahke in error, because sermon and service 
are not rivals but auxiharies. He believed that there 
was a case for a liturgy. A liturgy had a certain 
statelinoss of thought and charm of style; it lifted its 
children out of sectarian and provincial ideas of reli- 
gion; it expressed not individual moods or experiences, 
but the ordinary wants of all kinds and conditions of 
men. It made the worshippers independent of the 
officiating clergyman; it bound the members of a 
church, both old and young, to one fellowship and 
loyalty. Along, however, with a liturgy there ought 
to be free prayer, giving the service a certain life 
and freshness, and giving also opportunities for fit 
thanksgiving and supplication prompted by the need of 
the time. Without disparaging the real gift of prayer 
bestowed on certain ministers under whose charge wor- 
ship combines a perfect form of a liturgy with the 
loveliness and spontaneity of spoken prayer, Watson 
had a keen sense of the dangers of committing the con- 
duct of divine service to the absolute discretion of one 
man. He thought it wise for ministers in Free 
Churches to form a liturgy for themselves with much 
care and pains, choosing from the liturgies of the 
early Church, and the choice books of Christian devo- 
tion. Services should also be prepared for the adminis- 
tration of the Sacraments. Public worship should be 
comforting, joyful, enthusiastic, beautiful, the flower 
of all the week, but its chief note should be reverence 
and godly fear. " Praise and prayer, the reading of 
Holy Scripture, and the preaching of the Evangel, 



HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 107 

should conspire to lift the congregation above the pres- 
ent world and the sensible atmosphere in which they 
have been living, and bring them face to face with 
the Eternal. . . . Nothing is more urgently needed 
in this day, which knows how to doubt and jest, but 
is forgetting how to revere and adore, when the great 
function of worship has become pleasing and amusing, 
a performance and a comedy." To the order of divine 
worship in his church Watson gave the most scrupu- 
lous care. His own prayers were largely liturgical. 
He made conscience of every detail, studying to make 
the whole service from beginning to end an impressive 
unity. It was a matter of grief to him that among so 
many of the Protestant Churches public worship with- 
out a sermon was thought to be unattractive. While, 
as we have seen, he gave a great place to the sermon, 
he yet believed that there ought to be solemn services 
of praise and prayer, of devout worship and communion 
where no sermon was needed. 

Nothing called forth his great powers of sarcasm 
as did the degrading and debasing of public worship. 
He was perhaps hardly quite just to those who were 
trying in England to make Church life really popular. 
He loathed the idea of " running " a church upon 
modern lines. He conceived that the type of minister 
required for such a purpose would not be a man of 
learning and insight and devotion and charity. The 
teacher who expounded the Bible after a thorough and 
edifying fashion, the pastor who watched over and 
trained the character of his people would hardly be 
needed, and certainly would not be much appreciated. 



108 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN m 

" The chief demand is a sharp little man with the 
gifts of an impresario, a commercial traveller, and 
an auctioneer combined, with the slightest flavour of 
a peripatetic evangelist. Instead of a study lined 
with books of grave divinity and classical literature, 
let him have an office with pigeon-holes for his pro- 
grammes, circulars, and endless correspondence, and 
cupboards for huge books with cuttings from news- 
papers and reports of other organisations, and a tele- 
phone ever tingling, and a set of handbooks. How to 
Make a Sermon in Thirty Minutes, Splinters of Ice and 
Scraps of Coral; or. One TJwusand Racy Anecdotes 
from the Mission Field, The Secrets of a Happy Social, 
and suchlike practical works for the modern minister." 
That such ways would be successful even as their pro- 
moters desired he did not believe. Christianity would 
not have existed if the Apostles had been " pleasing 
preachers " and " bright men." The Church was not a 
place of second-rate entertainments or a cheap business 
concern, but the witness to immortality, the spiritual 
home of souls, the servant of the poor, and the protector 
of the friendless. 

FROM SIR OLIVER LODGE 

February 18th, 1899- 
My dear Watson, — Over here for the Sunday I read 
your Ageless Life aloud with the greatest interest^ admira- 
tion, and enthusiasm. 

As you know your Christ-drawn conception of life now 
as a bit of life always, no discontinuity except one of body 
and of physical memory, the Platonic idea, is the one to 






HIS MINISTRY IN LIVERPOOL 109 

which as I think science is arriving by a slow and groping 
method of its own. 

If it does so arrive the information would gradually be 
forced upon the uninspired and average man, with results 
I should hope of a useful and helpful kind. — Very truly 
yours, Oliver Lodge. 



CHAPTER VI 

PASTORAL WORK 

Watson's pastoral work was, in some respects, even 
more remarkable than his preaching. As his friend Dr. 
Oswald Dykes has said, the pulpit offers attractions for 
artistic natures like his sufficient to outweigh any fas- 
tidious shrinking from those vulgar accessories which 
attend a popular preacher in these days of advertising. 
But quiet pastoral duty with its absorbing demands 
upon the spiritual as well as the physical resources of a 
minister is done out of sight of the public, and promises 
nothing to the lover either of sensationalism or noto- 
riety. The ends it seeks and the rewards it gains are 
such as only a true lover of souls will value. " John 
Watson," he says, " never stood so high in my, eyes as 
when I came to know how assiduous was his visitation of 
his flock, and with what keenness he had studied the 
problems and the methods of pastoral care." He made 
it a point to visit each member of his great congrega- 
tion every year. This was by no means the whole of his 
pastoral labour. He was tenderly watchful in times of 
joy, and especially in times of sorrow. He comforted 
assiduously the sick, the dying, the bereaved. It was 
much more by his presence than by letters that he did 
his work, though every member of his flock was made 
conscious that at no turn or epoch of his life was he f or- 

110 



PASTORAL WORK 111 

gotten by his pastor. It has to be remembered that in 
all probability he added very little to the outward 
strength of his church by this toil. Hardly any min- 
ister in his position would consider it necessary. His 
congregation for many years taxed the limits of his 
church, and would have been more numerous still if he 
had not refused to have a larger building. He found 
his reward in the strong ties that bound himself to his 
people, and also in the consciousness of having done his 
duty, for he would often repeat the saying, " Duty done 
is the soul's fireside." 

Dr. Oswald Dykes remarks that the chapter on this 
subject in his book, The Cure of Souls, is the most open 
window we have, letting light into the inner secrets of 
his own heart, and revealing what manner of man he 
really was. Watson thought that the ideal way was 
that a great congregation should have two ministers, 
one to be the preacher and the other the pastor. Many 
men combine the two gifts of the shepherd, to feed and 
to watch, but as Nature specialises on her higher levels, 
it is rare that one should excel both in the pulpit and in 
the house. One man rejoices in preaching, another 
longs to be planning a round of visits. One man re- 
joices in forty minutes' intellectual conflict with a crowd 
of human souls, but afterwards does not wish to see the 
face of man. Another has that in the grip of his hand 
and the sound of his voice which sends people on their 
way rejoicing. " When he enters a house there is a 
general stir and an adhesion of the whole household ; sick 
people declare with solemnity that he does more for them 
than the doctor, and in the hour of trial the thoughts of 



112 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

a family turn by instinct to this man. Between these 
men there should be no comparison, for the two are the 
piers of the arch." But Watson was a true shepherd of 
souls. His people were always in his heart. He 
claimed identity with them in the joys and sorrows and 
endless vicissitudes of life. No friend was blessed with 
any good gift of God but he was also richer. No house- 
hold suffered but he was poorer; no one resisted temp- 
tation but he was stronger; no one failed but he 
was weaker. He inquired and planned about all his 
young men, trying to find spheres for them or to 
stimulate them in their work, or to protect them from 
temptation. 

One thing he cannot do: criticise his people or make 
distinctions among them. Others, with no shepherd heart, 
may miss the hidden goodness: he searches for it as for 
fine gold. Others may judge people for faults and sins; 
he takes them for his own. Others may make people's 
foibles the subject of their raillery; the pastor cannot be- 
cause he loves. Does this interest on the part of one not 
related by blood or long friendship seem an impertinence? 
It ought to be pardoned, for it is the only one of the kind 
that is likely to be offered. Is it a sentiment? Assuredly, 
the same sublime devotion which has made Jesus the Good 
Shepherd of the soul. If the pastoral instinct be crushed 
out of existence between the upper and lower millstones of 
raging sensationalism and ecclesiastical worldliness, then 
the Christian Church will sink into a theological club or a 
society for social reform: if it had full play we might see 
a revival of religion more spiritual and lasting than any 
since the Reformation. 



PASTORAL WORK 113 

He divided his work as pastor into the departments 
of visitation and consultation, and this is how he spoke 
of them: — 

With the true pastor, visitation is a spiritual labour, 
intense and arduous, beside which reading and study are 
light and easy. When he has been with ten families, and 
done his best by each, he comes home trembling in his very 
limbs and worn-out in soul. Consider what he has come 
through, what he has attempted, what, so far as it can be 
said of a frail human creature, this man has done. He has 
tasted joy in one home, where the husband has been re- 
stored to his wife from the dust of death; he has shared 
sorrow with another family where pet Marjorie has died; 
he has consulted with a mother about a son in some far 
country, whose letters fill the anxious heart with dread; he 
has heard a letter of twelve pages of good news and over- 
flowing love which another son has sent to his mother; he 
has carried God's comfort to Darby and Joan reduced 
suddenly to poverty, and God's invitation to two young 
people beginning life together in great prosperity. He 
has to adjust himself to a new situation in each house, and 
to cast himself with utter abandonment into another ex- 
perience of life. Before evening he has been a father, a 
mother, a husband, a wife, a child, a friend; he has been 
young, middle-aged, old, lifted up, cast down, a sinner, a 
saint, all sorts and conditions of life. ... It is exhausting 
to rejoice or to sorrow, but to taste both sensations in 
succession is disabling; yet this man has passed through 
ten moods since midday, and each with all his strength. 
His experiences have not all been wiped out as a child's 
exercise from a slate; they have become strata in his 
soul. 



114 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

This labour of visitation was conducted in a most 
careful and methodical fashion. Whenever a family 
came to his church he obtained from them the names of 
the household, and the ages of all below sixteen, and also 
particulars about those who were communicants and had 
done church work. All these he wrote into a large book 
in which he had his congregation before him at any 
moment. From it he reminded himself who ought to be- 
come communicants, who ought to take part in the 
church work, where recruits could be found for- the 
guilds and classes. He also made careful secret notes 
on the spiritual history and character of his people. 
Thus his yearly visitation was no formality. The visits 
were brief, generally fifteen minutes. Gossip was left 
out, and it was understood that business had to be done. 
When conversation moved onward till it reached the 
brink of prayer, the visit culminated and completed itself 
in a few earnest petitions. Whenever a message came 
from a house of sickness no time was lost on the way. 
He read to all in trouble the fourteenth chapter of St. 
John's Gospel. It was his experience that every man 
and woman wanted to hear it in great sorrow or when 
the shadow was falling. With every reading he 
noticed that it yielded some new revelation of the Divine 
Love and the Kingdom of Heaven. " If one is sinking 
into consciousness, and you read, ' In My Father's house 
are many mansions,' he will come back and whisper 
' mansions,' and he will wait till you finish : ' where I am 
ye may be also,' before he dies in peace." 

Much of his time and strength were given to consulta- 
tion, and this he ever considered a primary department 



PASTORAL WORK 115 

of his work. His Roman Catholic affinities partly fitted 
and prepared him for this. 

It is the custom (he said) of Protestants to denounce the 
confessional^ and not without reason — for the claim of a 
priest to hear confessions and absolve is a profane inter- 
ference between the soul and Christ — but it would be wise 
to remember that there are times and moods and circum- 
stances when every person desires to open his heart to some 
brother-man^ when some persons cannot otherwise get re- 
lief. To whom are these persons to go? What they want 
is one who has a wide experience of life, who is versed in 
human nature, who is accustomed to keep secrets, who has 
faith in God and man, whose office invites and sanctions 
confidence. Who fulfils those conditions so perfectly as 
the minister of Christ.^ and is it not good that there is 
within reach one ordained to be a friend unto every one 
who is lonely and in distress of mind? 

His rules for consultation were well thought out and 
strictly adhered to. He only received such confidences 
as were freely offered. He hated anything like prying 
into people's private affairs and pursuing a clue to the 
end. Curiosity and meddlesomeness were forbidden to 
a true pastor. Neither should he encourage the revela- 
tion of anything more than was necessary to enable him 
to give his advice. For example, if a woman states that 
she has a heavy sin on her conscience, and indicates that 
her husband has no idea of it, then the pastor should 
suggest that they should speak of the matter in general 
terms, and, if he knows the goodness of her husband, 
that she ought to confess the sin, whatever it may be, to 



116 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

him. Afterwards the pastor advises her how to meet 
and overcome this sin if it should rise again, and so this 
human soul has not been put to shame, but has gained 
help without losing self-respect. The pastor, though he 
has taken no oath of secrecy, must regard every confi- 
dence as absolutely sacred, and will on no account, 
except at the command of the law, reveal what has been 
told him in consultation. 

This was a rule on which Watson specially insisted, 
and to which he most closely adhered. It may be safely 
said that he never broke a confidence. The very thought 
of such treason seemed to fill him with horror. He be- 
trayed, I remember, considerable excitement when he 
heard that many of the letters addressed to Henry 
Drummond by those in straits had been preserved. 
Drummond, like Watson, was one to whom men laid bare 
their hearts and their lives, and he was ready to give 
himself to their help without stint. Drummond, too, 
was never known to break a secret of the confessional. 
Watson was careful to destroy at once any letter re- 
cording the sad secrets of humanity. He did not fear 
so much that pastors might be consciously dishonour- 
able. What he dreaded was mere leakiness. " The pas- 
tor does not consider his own wife a privileged person 
in this matter, for though she might be the most prudent 
and reticent of women, yet it would embarrass his people 
to know that their secrets were shared with her. The 
high honour of doctors, who carry in their breasts so 
many social tragedies, is an example to be followed by 
the clerical profession." The pastor should direct all 
those who consult him to accept Christ as Saviour and 



PASTORAL WORK 117 

Friend, giving also such practical counsel as he can, 
especially urging restitution, reformation, watchfulness, 
as the case might be. I know that very many who were 
in trouble went to him. I know that as time passed 
scarcely any phase of suffering and anxiety and sin was 
unfamiliar to him. He found many precedents as he 
grew older, and was furnished with many aids for emer- 
gency. But sometimes he was overwhelmed by the 
misery of it all. 

Watson had many who consulted him about the dif- 
ficulties of faith. Here his quick insight served him 
well. He could distinguish between the earnest sceptic 
and the man who was playing with doubt. He had 
fought his own way and knew the conditions of the 
struggle. There was no trouble he would not take for 
those whose perplexities were real. His large and liberal 
conception of Christianity, his sharp discrimination be- 
tween the essential and the non-essential, his vivid belief 
in Christ as the centre of his creed, all came out in such 
dealings. But for those who were merely trying to 
puzzle him he had small tolerance, and on occasion, 
though rarely, he would use his wit and sarcasm on their 
vanity. The result of it all may be summed up in his 
favourite motto, " Be kind, for every one is fighting a 
hard battle." He was never meddlesome, censorious, un- 
sympathetic. Every year he saw more of the tempta- 
tions of life and the goodness of human nature. For 
the innocent gaiety and lighter follies of youth he had 
a vast toleration, for the sudden disasters of manhood 
an unfailing charity, for the unredeemed tragedies of 
age a great sorrow. Life was a hard fight for every 



118 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

one, and it was not his to judge or condemn ; his it was 
to understand, to help, to comfort, for these people were 
his children, his pupils, his patients ; they were the sheep 
Christ has given him, for whom Christ died. 

When he came to review his career, he confessed that 
pastoral work had not been easy to him. He knew the 
full attraction of the study, and it was irksome for him 
to leave it. He thought himself by nature a student 
rather than a pastor. It was also difficult for him to 
exchange the attitude of a friend for the attitude of a 
pastor. He had a sincere and continued joy in human 
life in all its ways, also in dogs and horses and every 
living thing. He was naturally a humanist, observant, 
but also tolerant, kind-hearted, and easy-going. He 
loved the comedy and the tragedy of life. He shrank 
from oversight as a wanton intrusion upon other men's 
affairs. He found it his business to concentrate upon 
the spiritual concerns of the people, and he toiled very 
hard in this department. But he did not disguise the 
difficulties. Some homes were attractive, and others were 
antipathetic. It was often difficult to speak directly 
about the deepest affairs of life. He counted himself 
not a priest among his people, but a fellow-pilgrim with 
them on life's perilous journey. Still he continued to 
believe in the work, and he refused to criticise the Roman 
confessional with the high spirit of many Protestant 
writers. " Many are my regrets for unpaid visits to 
people who alienated me, and for tardy visits when 
trouble called for attention. Many also are my re- 
grets for foolish words I have spoken in jest, and for the 
words which died away upon my lip, and which I ought 



PASTORAL WORK 119 

to have spoken. I reproach myself for impatience with 
chronic invaHds, and impracticable faddists, and bigoted 
people, and tiresome talkers. Who has not his own 
weaknesses and his own prejudices? and therefore he 
ought to be charitable. But I am thankful that, so far 
as I know, I have never deserted any fellow-creature in 
black distress, however awful was the tragedy, and I can 
also claim that I have never betrayed a professional 
secret, nor kept in my possession a compromising letter." 
It deserves to be noted that he was specially careful 
never to poach on the congregations of other ministers, 
or to do anything to take away their people. He 
thought that ministers ought in this matter to copy very 
closely the etiquette of the medical profession which in- 
sists that a doctor shall not meddle with another man's 
practice nor criticise another man's work. For a min- 
ister to visit a family belonging to another congregation 
unless on the understood ground of private friendship, 
or in some very exceptional circumstances, he thought 
was less than moral, and certainly was not honourable. 
The truth is, however, that Watson's visiting greatly 
strengthened his preaching, just as his preaching gave 
value to his visits. This was observed by every one who 
really knew him and his work. In any case his pastoral 
work would have been fruitful. As it was, it gave him 
the power of putting himself alongside the personal ex- 
perience of his people with brotherly humanity and long- 
ing to help. He pressed home his message with personal 
force — that is, he had always in his mind, not merely 
ideas, but persons. He saw sin and pain not in the 
mass, but by their real tokens, in the souls they bow 



120 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

down. The characters, the dangers, and the sorrows of 
his people were ever in his mind. More than once after 
his death he was called an interpreter. He knew men so 
well that he spoke home to them. He knew life so well 
that he understood the Bible, and could make it a living 
book. His familiarity with life's tragedy and comedy 
saved him from cynicism and caricature, and kept him 
sound and sweet at heart. He exercised a priesthood of 
love as well as a priesthood of truth. That priesthood 
of love was fulfilled with constant vigilance, with un- 
sparing labour, and with such a severe self-denial as 
gave dignity to his whole character. 

Nor must I forget to touch on his courage, wisdom, 
and fidelity in the training of the young. " We must 
accept," he said, " the age into which Providence has 
cast us, and enter into its spirit. One can hardly im- 
agine any more honourable task than to meet its wants 
and guide its inquiries. There are ages which have 
been saved from sin by evangelism ; this is an age which 
must be saved from scepticism by knowledge." And 
again : " We come now to the mind of the congregation, 
and it must be felt by every one that at present an 
enormous responsibility lies on the Church with regard 
to the instruction of the young (and others) in the 
Christian faith. For this purpose there ought to be an 
educational ladder constructed in every congregation 
which will receive the young child into the infant-class 
of the Sunday-school at the foot and, as a man, give him 
the latest results of Biblical research at the top." He 
realised these ideals in his organisation of the Sunday- 
school, the senior classes, and the guilds in his own con- 



PASTORAL WORK 121 

gregation. While he did not profess to be a specialist, 
his acquirements in scholarship, in theology, and in phi- 
losophy were very considerable, and all of them were 
humbly, faithfully, fearlessly, and reverently used in 
the conveying of religious truth to his people. 

The outward monument of his successful ministry is 
to be found in the great, liberal, influential, and devoted 
church which he built up year by year. Of individual 
instances in which souls were touched and helped by his 
ministry, there are not a few records, but for the most 
part they are too sacred for publication. One of the 
most widely known incidents in his ministry is the fact 
that Matthew Arnold heard Watson preach on the day 
he died. Mr. Arnold was staying with his brother-in- 
law, Mr. Edward Cropper, who was a worshipper in Sef- 
ton Park Church. Arnold accompanied his sister and 
his brother-in-law to the morning service. He was 
deeply impressed by the sermon on the Cross of Christ, 
and remarked that he had rarely been so affected by any 
preacher as by Dr. Watson. One of the hymns sung 
was: 

When I survey the wondrous Cross 
On which the Prince of Glory died. 

Arnold when he came home repeated the lines, and said 
that the hymn was the finest in the English language. 
" Yes," he went on, " the Cross remaineth, and in the 
straits of the soul makes its ancient appeal." In the aft- 
ernoon he walked with his relatives and was in the 
highest spirits. He vaulted lightly over a stile, but the 



122 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

effort was too great, and he died very suddenly from 
disease of the heart. The Sefton Park Church Maga- 
zine of May, 1888, has the following : — 

Mr. Arnold worshipped with us at morning service on 
Communion Sunday, and before evening we were all the 
poorer for his loss. Death by a sudden stroke deprived 
English literature of a most delightful critic, a most fas- 
cinating essayist, and a poet of classical purity and beauty. 
Our nation has also lost a life which elevated as much as 
it interested us, a life devoted to " sustaining the course of 
noble conduct and to exalting the elation of duty, the 
rapture of righteousness." He showed us an example of 
splendid service and high thinking, and by his kindliness 
and culture reconciled sweetness and light. We can never 
forget that distinguished man of letters whose last public 
act was to attend divine service in this church, and who 
died as it were under the shadow of the Cross. 

His beloved friend and brother minister, the Rev. 
William Watson of Claughton, wrote a letter to him 
which he permits me to quote. 

October SUt, 1903. 
Here is an incident full of interest and cheer for you. 
A lady in this neighbourhood, unknown to me, met with a 
great sorrow some months ago. She lost a much-loved 
daughter, she has been quite inconsolable; so stunned as to 
be unable to weep. She was agonised in prayer, calling on 
God for comfort and rest of mind. No response seemed to 
come. She could find no alleviation in the teaching of her 
own Church. Her distress has been terrible. She heard 
you were to be here last Sunday evening. For two or three 



PASTORAL WORK 123 

days before the burden of her longing had been, that God 
would put it into your heart to speak about prayer; its 
power and comfort. So eager was she that this should be 
your message, that the medical attendant, an intimate 
friend of the family's, was almost on the point of writing 
to you and making a suggestion. You came, preached on 
prayer, she was present, she could scarcely believe her ears 
when you announced your subject. She went home from 
Church to a new world of peace. The tears long checked, 
came. She let her poor wounded life down on the Divine 
Compassion of the Christ, and has been marvellously 
strengthened. The Doctor told me the story last night, 
and I give you it very much as he gave it me. It is im- 
pressive, and he a busy but kindly man has been much 
moved by it, and like me sees that it cannot be explained on 
human grounds alone. Your words have saved and up- 
lifted a broken heart. May the Master's blessing for ever 
be upon them when you utter them, and may this little 
incident give your heartening for to-morrow's toil. 

Watson was indefatigable in writing pastoral letters 
of counsel and consolation to those in his charge. Of 
these a very few specimens must suffice. The first is to 
a young officer about whom he was a little anxious : — 

My dear a., — There is a matter on which I feel a little 
anxious and on which I want to give you a word of advice. 
You are young, a great blessing by the way, and I want 
you to form not only good habits, but the best, so that your 
future may be without shadow and crowned with success. 
What I want to suggest to you is to take great care that 
among those older officers you do not fall into the way of 
drinking wine and whisky freely. 



124 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

I do not ask you to be a total abstainer, although some 
good fellows are so with no loss to themselves, but I have 
no hesitation in asking that you leave whisky alone, which 
I never touched until I was a middle-aged man, and to take 
very little else. A glass of beer is all right if you want it. 
Your mother, I know, takes nothing, your father very little 
indeed. I want you to be like them all the more that you 
are still a lad. If a habit of drinking ever grew upon you, 
little by little it would ruin your life, and break your 
parents' hearts. 

Now, my dear boy, you will accept this as a letter of 
warning from an older man anxious that you should make 
the most of your life; remember you are your father's son 
carrying a good name and having before you, as I trust, a 
long and happy life. — Your affectionate friend, J. W. 

The next was written on the anniversary of a little 
child's death. 

My dear Friend, — Have you read The Blessed Damo- 
2 el? " They are safe who are with Jesus where they fol- 
low the Lamb to Living Fountains of Water." And the 
day has now broken. 

But I am writing in the train to send you a quotation 
from that Scots saint Archbishop Leighton. In a letter of 
his to his sister on the loss of her little boy: ** Sweet thing, 
and is he so quickly laid to sleep? Happy he. Though 
we shall have no more the pleasure of his lisping and 
laughing, he shall have no more the pain of crying or of 
dying, or of being sick: And hath wholly escaped the 
trouble of schooling, and all other sufferings of boys, and 
the riper and deeper griefs of riper years. This poor life 
being all along nothing but many sorrows and many deaths. 



PASTORAL WORK 125 

John is but gone an hour or two sooner to bed, and we are 
undressing to follow. The more we put off the love of this 
present world and all things superfluous beforehand, we 
shall have the less to do when we lie down." — Yours 
affectionately, John Watson. 

The following accompanied a gift to his friend and 
physician : — 

My dear Doctor, — Will you accept a copy of A Kempis 
for your study table? The longer I live the more I value 
those brief words I read at a glance between work, and 
that sweeten the soul. Every moment I need to be re- 
minded of the Cross through which we live. 

Accept my deep gratitude also for your great and 
patient kindness to the least worthy of your patients. 
May God fill the empty place in your heart. — Your friend, 

John Watson. 

This letter is one out of many which show the care 
and labour with which he attended to the requests of 
his friends. No man could have done more to obtain 
situations for the unemployed and to help men in busi- 
ness difficulties. 

July 5th, 1901. 
Dear Mrs. A., — I put the case of the man in whom you 
are interested before a very able shipowner who has French 
connections, who I thought might be of some service. I 
am sorry to say that he holds out no hope, and I quote a 
passage from his letter for your information. " I know 
that young man, the probabilities are that he has no busi- 
ness training and that his friends imagine that a knowledge 
of French without any other equipment makes him of use. 



126 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

These young men come to Liverpool in scores and want to 
enter offices as volunteers without pay, and expect to be 
taught business." 

As this is a very able man and has taken the trouble, 
a busy man, to write the note with his own hand, and at 
considerable length, I am afraid there is no chance for the 
Frenchman. 

Will you accept this expression of regret that I can do 
no more and that in consequence of my very heavy work at 
present I was unable to call at offices myself? — ^With kind 
regards. Believe me. Yours faithfully, John Watson. 

I give three more letters of comfort. 

My dear Mrs. , — Your letter has come, and made 

me very anxious and sad. All day I have had you in my 
thoughts and my prayers, and now I am going to preach 
with heads, and you must listen just as if you were in 
church, for indeed you cannot answer, and 

1. You are not well, and I know that you are hiding 
suffering every day with splendid bravery. I hope the 
other profession may be able to help you, and that you 
may be long spared in health to your dear man, and us all 
who love you. But remember how closely the mind and 
body are related, and how John Baptist himself lost heart 
in the dungeon. 

2. You have had exceptional trials, and I am often full 
of self-reproach that we have not all the more sympathy 
with you. Never was woman more tried, and more patient. 
But this must tell on your mind, and you are in the trough 
of the wave now. 

3. You must not talk or think of leaving us, and imagine 
that this is the will of God. Consider what you are to 



I 



PASTORAL WORK 127 

your husband^ how close and beautiful and loyal is the tie. 
What would his life be without you? If God did call you 
home before him, and I was spared, you may be sure that 
I would stand by him to the end, for I love and honour 
him. I do think that we understand one another, but you 
may not go, there is need of you, and as St. Paul argued 
in his Philippian Epistle, as there is need here life will be 
continued here. May God comfort and cheer you. — Ever 
your faithful friend, John Watson. 

March 15th, 1892. 

Dear Miss , — It is laid upon me to send you these 

— amid a morning of business — it is not laid on you to 
answer. 

(a) " A sea below 

The throne is spread; its pure still glass 
Pictures all earth scenes as they pass. 

We on its shore 
Share, in the bosom of our rest, 
God's knowledge and are blest." 

(b) "Shall I forget on this side of the grave? 

I promise nothing: you must wait and see, 

Patient and brave. 
(O my soul, watch with him and he with me.) 

Shall I forget in peace of Paradise? 

I promise nothing: follow, friend, and see, 

Faithful and wise. 
(O my soul, lead the way he walks with me.) " 

My kind regards to your father. — Yours faithfully, 

John Watson. 



128 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

November 19th, I906. 

My dear Friend, — It was good of you to send me those 
letters to read ; I think them both admirable in everything. 
Alas! that such a felicity of insight should be wet with 
tears. I thought I had realised the bitterness of your 
sorrow, so far as a friend walking among the trees of the 
garden could; but your letter has in some way told me 
more than I knew or rather imagined. Yours has been a 
bitter cup, but you are the more in the fellowship of His 
sufferings, and the nearer you are to Him in the order of 
suffering, the warmer is the touch of His Hand on the cup. 
There is a quiet sanctuary in the heart of the storm, and 
the Lord with every kind of trouble encompassing Him, 
spoke of Peace, My Peace, and this was because He had 
entered into and hidden Himself in the Will of God. " In 
His Will," as Dante says, " is our tranquillity." Upon the 
first day of the week your sweet girl was with the Lord, 
and entered into the Fulness of life. Then do not sorrow 
overmuch because your arms are empty, for so were the 
Mothers' arms in Galilee when they brought their children 
to Jesus. His strong, kindly Arms were fuller, and by 
and by He restored His charge with His Blessing. This 
also He will do for you, and in that day I feel certain you 
will not reproach the Saviour for His guardianship, when 
in the dawning of the morning you see your child coming 
to meet you. We have been walking among the gray 
gnarled olive-trees in the cold light of the moon, but she has 
been in the garden city where they follow the Lamb to 
living fountains of water, and have no need even of the 
sun, for the Lord God and the Lamb are the light 
thereof. 

But the wind is in my sails, and I am making for the 
open sea, where the sun coming out from behind a cloud 



J 



PASTORAL WORK 129 

is shining on the shimmering water, and Cambridge calls. 
— Your faithful and affectionate friend, 

John Watson. 

Among those who attended Sefton Park Church were 
several of the Liverpool Professors. Among these Wat- 
son had many close friends. Sir Oliver Lodge kindly 
allows me to print the following extracts from Wat- 
son's letters to him : — 

October IQth, 1891. 

You call me Mr., but I fancy that is the dignity of an 
F.R.S. keeping an ignorant person in his own place. It is 
no use, our impudence is invincible. I thank you for the 
invitation for the 2Srd. Alas! I am on duty, and it is a 
great grief I cannot come. I feel your kindness in asking 
me. 

PS. — You are a better disciple of Jesus than I am, why 
don't you stay to the Sacrament? 

November ^Mh, 1891- 
I am so busy that I cannot get round to ask you a ques- 
tion. Am I right in my idea that you as a Physicist see 
no difficulty about prayer being answered, allowing for 
changes in natural sphere? You made a distinction be- 
tween force and will, I think ; can you give it me on a post- 
card, it will be favour. 

November 28th, 1891. 
It was very kind to leave a Christmas gift for me to-day, 
and I shall value it for that kind word you wrote on it. It 
strengthens me that you should have anything like affec- 
tionate regard for a man so far below you as I am, but 
when you give that you do your best for me. 



130 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

i 

December IQth, 1892. f 
It was a greater disappointment for me on Saturday. 
Let us post-card time on Friday evening, for I can't afford 
to miss you. My heart's thanks for that book, Copernik 
and Blake, done with much satisfaction, a most timely and 
lucid book, but I must have the name on it for generations 
to come. My friends are not many, some six true men, 
so I hold them very dear. 

With the warmest wishes of the season for you and 
yours. 



I 



CHAPTER VII 

PUBLIC WORK 

Da. Watson was not merely a minister of Sefton 
Park ; he was also a great citizen of Liverpool. As such 
he took a very active part in public life. He was 
strongly disposed at first to concern himself with ec- 
clesiastical affairs, with the business in Synod and in 
Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of England. 
But he fancied, rightly or wrongly, that his efforts in 
that way were discouraged, and for long he stood aside. 
But he found another sphere. He was not an active 
politician, though his views on politics were never con- 
cealed. They were in the main decidedly Conservative. 
He was not a strict party man, and differed from the 
Unionists in their educational pohcy, and in their atti- 
tude to social reform. But his favourite politicians 
were Mr. Balfour and Mr. Chamberlain. Mr. Balfour 
he would speak of as the prince of courtesy, and he 
would tell how on the occasion of a dinner in London 
when he himself had arrived rather late, and the guests 
were already seated, he found Mr. Balfour sitting op- 
posite him on the other side of the table. Watson was 
introduced to him, and Mr. Balfour, instead of bowing 
across the table, rose and walked round and shook hands 
very warmly. For Mr. Chamberlain's debating and ad- 
ministrative powers he had an unbounded admiration, 
and he considered that as a speaker he surpassed easily 

131 



132 LIFE OF IAN MACL.\REN 

all other politicians. However, these opinions were not 
spoken in public. Watson considered that it was the 
duty of a minister, unless in exceptional circumstances, 
to mtiintain neutrality in politics in so far as his public 
actions were concerned. He also disliked the habit of 
discussing political questions in ecclesiastical courts. 
But no one had more of the ci^'ic conscience, and few 
equalled him in the energy of patriotism. One of his 
great ambitions — and it was largely reahsed — was to 
train young men in his church to care for the hfe of the 
communitT, and to take, when the opportunity came, an 
active part in municipil affairs. He never ceased to 
glorify municipal work. It was liis dehberate convic- 
tion that the worth of such work was seriously and 
dangerously underrated in our country. He sometimes 
incurred censure for the vehemence with which he ex- 
pressed himself on this subject. He held that among 
the various influences which make for the good of the 
common Hfe, none ought to be more carefully fostered 
than the pride in the citv — local patriotism as dis- 
tinguished from the Imperial patriotism into which the 
other flows as a river into the ocean. He held that no 
honour was too generous to be paid to men who with 
every qualification of intelligence and integrity, with 
every private reason to safeguard their leisure and to 
gratify their honourable tastes, have entered the City 
Council and worked to make the city more hke the City 
of God. He dreaded the passing of local poHtics into 
the hands of professional managers manipulating af- 
fairs for their own aggrandisement, and the shadow of 
the calamity which has fallen largely on American 



PUBLIC WORK 133 

municipal life often oppressed and grieved him. While 
deprecating the idea that the Church as an organisation 
should take a direct part in politics or interfere directly 
in trade disputes, he pleaded that she should use her 
whole influence through her children in working for the 
happiness of the people. He believed that the Church 
could help the Kingdom best in this way, and he hoped 
that long before the twentieth century ended, every man 
would have a home of some kind where he Hved in peace 
and decency with his wife and his children, that the gross 
temptations of the city — the public-houses at every 
corner, and the scenes in Piccadilly Circus at night — 
would be brought to an end, and that every man would 
be wilHng to work, and work honestly, and receive a fair 
wage to keep himself and his family. He longed to see 
an end of the alienation between the people and the 
Church, and he believed that the time was coming when 
the poor and miserable would know that Christ by His 
Body the Church was their best friend. He also frankly 
expressed his desire for the day when every young man 
in the country in ordinary circmnstances would be in- 
vited in an extremely pressing manner to become a mem- 
ber of one of the armed forces of the country, whether 
military or naval. When that day came, not only would 
the country be impregnable against foreign attack, but 
a very great benefit would be conferred on the young 
men. They would get bodies erect instead of slouching, 
and they would be taught obedience and subordination as 
well as courage and loyalty. 

I shall have occasion to deal with his profound interest 
in University College, Liverpool, now the University of 



IM LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

Liverpool. In the whole subject of education his interest 
was constant. In an address to the Federation of Head 
Teachers which met in Liverpool in 1903, Dr. Watson 
urged the teachers that it lay with them to make intel- 
ligent and loyal English citizens. He would have the 
children to understand what the flag meant, and he held 
that they should be drilled in the history of the nation. 
They should be prepared to take a share in the govern- 
ment of the country, and should be instructed in the 
history of politics. They should be taught that they 
must work hard, quickly, skilfully, and honestly, if 
it was to be well with England in the competition 
before her. The people could only be raised in propor- 
tion as their character was raised. The chief forces 
in the world were not physical but spiritual, and the 
most successful method for the elevation of the indi- 
vidual was not repressing evil, but replacing it by 
goodness. 

From his pulpit he constantly stimulated the civic 
conscience, and taught a large view of the State. He 
repudiated wholly the notion that the State was noth- 
ing but a night-watchman to protect the property and 
person of the lieges. The business of the State was so 
to regulate the corporate life that every member of the 
commonwealth should come to his full height, and have 
his full opportunity of living. That was a happy State 
which maintained a just balance between justice and 
benevolence. Few things were more disheartening to 
him than to see the very different attitudes of obligation 
which the ordinary man had to his family and to the 
State. He would sink himself in the interests of the 



PUBLIC WORK 135 

family, but he was indifferent or neutral to the State. 
Especially he was cold to the municipal State, and had 
never come within a thousand miles of believing that the 
government of the State was a divine ordinance, or that 
the local State was the nurse of character, and the 
sphere where citizens could rise to the stature of moral 
independence. Whatever might be the benefits of the 
party system, party should never be served at the ex- 
pense of the community. 

His success in his deliberate aim was very marked. 
During his pastorate six members of his church became 
Mayors or Lord Mayors of Liverpool. The Mayors 
were — Thomas Holder, 1883-4; James de Bels Adam, 
1891-2 ; the Lord Mayors were Sir Charles Petrie, 
1901-2 ; W. W. Rutherford, 1902-3 ; John Lea, 1904-5 ; 
and John Japp, 1906-7. Many others were prominent 
in the City Council. He was wont to recount these facts 
with infinite pride, giving each man his municipal title 
and reciting their services to the community. He would 
say that during his residence in Liverpool he had seen 
twenty-five Mayors and Lord Mayors, and every one of 
them was animated with an earnest desire to maintain 
the high reputation of the city and to do his duty by the 
citizens of Liverpool. During his years in Liverpool, one 
of the most severe and triumphant fights for purity and 
reform ever known in any municipality was carried 
through. The late Mr. Samuel Smith, M.P., in his 
autobiography gives an account of the facts. Watson 
was the friend and colleague of these reformers. It is 
in vain to attempt a history of these services. To give 
it would be to summarise the public life of Liverpool for 



136 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

a quarter of a century. Suffice it to say that every 
good cause found an advocate in John Watson. At 
all the chief public functions he was a prominent and 
honoured guest, and for all righteous ends a most ef- 
ficient worker. 



CHAPTER VIII 

HOME LIFE AND FOREIGN TRAVEL 

Amidst these strenuous labours, Watson's life went on 
happily and peacefully for years. He confined himself 
to the work of his congregation and his city. He was 
not much known outside, but in Liverpool his fame and 
power steadily grew. Four sons were born to him, and 
the atmosphere of his home was sweet and sunny. He 
was able to be much with his wife and children, and he 
had also many opportunities of cultivating the society 
of his friends. Among these he numbered many of the 
best men and women in Liverpool. Children had a great 
love for him, and he was the comrade of his own boys. 
Father Day once took Watson to visit the Jesuit schools 
in Liverpool. The boys gathered round him much to 
his delight, holding his hands, and searching for the 
peppermints he was accustomed to carry in his coat 
pockets. " Don't leave us, Father," they cried, as the 
superintendent tried to take him away. Watson often 
spoke of the great joy given to him that afternoon. 
The following story from a lady in the South of Eng- 
land will show how he understood the heart of a child : — 

He wrote to my husband offering to preach for him, and 
gave us a memorable day both at Church and at home. 
During dinner on Sunday, our six-year-old boy, who was 
sitting next to Dr. Watson_, upset his glass of water, and 
overcome with shame, took refuge under the table weeping 

137 



138 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

and saying " I can't come out, I'm far too ashamed." 
Watson, seizing the pepper-pot and a broken piece of 
bread for purposes of illustration said, " Athol, here's a 
shipwreck! Look how the waves are creeping over the 
vessel. — Ah ! it's going to be wrecked. See, there's a light- 
house, come and see if we can't save this poor ship," — and 
by degrees the sobs ceased, and a tearful but deeply in- 
terested face appeared from under the table. Not a glance 
was cast in the boy's direction, and the rescue of the vessel 
proceeded, till all was peace and joy. He understood the 
boy's nature so well even during that short visit, and urged 
us not to let him work too hard when he went to school. 

At home he was the soul of good humour and kindli- 
ness. He possessed the habits of a business man, and 
nothing fretted him like casualness. Morning prayers 
over, he read the paper and his letters either before or 
during breakfast. At nine he was ready for his study. 
He typed answers to his correspondence, and then 
worked on till lunch. The afternoon was spent in visit- 
ing the congregation, or in fulfilling some business en- 
gagement. His evenings latterly were almost always 
occupied, but in the earlier part of his ministry many 
were free. He loved to see his young men, and he was 
especially successful in winning their confidence. He 
used to say : " If you get young men into your study, let 
them smoke. It is as a man lights his pipe that he gives 
you his confidence." In his library he was perfectly 
happy. He loved books, and he bought them. He had 
some dozen or so valuable first editions, and a fine collec- 
tion of beautiful art books, though he was never ex- 
travagant in his hobby. He had the book-collector's 



HOME LIFE AND FOREIGN TRAVEL 139 

reverence for books. He never marked a book all his 
life, and could not bear to see one ill-used, ill-cut, or in 
danger of getting soiled. He could not read a dirty 
library book; in fact he was altogether aesthetic as a 
reader or collector. He never tired of imploring young 
men to read, and regarded systematic reading as a great 
factor of success. His own general knowledge was ex- 
traordinary. I have heard him at one dinner-party 
speak of stocks and shares, the Italian Renascence, the 
East, the Highland Regiments, with a perfect grasp of 
each different subject, and with each department include 
a perfect shower of appropriate stories. His love of 
animals was very marked. He would not pass a cat in 
the street without " passing the time of day," as he 
called it. His house was always the home of numerous 
creatures of all sizes and varieties, mostly dogs, for he 
was devoted to dogs and horses, and as a young man 
found his chief companions in books, horses, and dogs. 
He told many humorous stories of dogs, especially when 
on visiting they came in a solid mass to sit on his knee, 
and of one bulldog of more than usually repulsive ap- 
pearance and colossal weight whom he feared to remove, 
and over whose back he was compelled to write all the 
morning. 

As a Highlander, he suffered very greatly from 
curious fits of depression which did not seem in any way 
to be connected with bodily health. But he never in- 
flicted his melancholy moods on his family, and was only 
very quiet and absorbed, and kept more closely to his 
study. In a day or two he would emerge again as a man 
coming out into the sunshine. 



140 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

He was highly strung, and in spite of his strong build 
and calm exterior, was very nervous, and extremely 
sensitive to noise. It actually seemed to pain him, and 
he would jump and cry out if anything dropped sud- 
denly beside him. Schopenhauer in his essay on Noise 
writes : " In the biographies of almost all writers or 
wherever else their personal utterances are recorded, I 
find complaints about it . . . and if it should happen 
that any writer has omitted to express himself on the 
matter, it is only for want of an opportunity." His 
very walk was that of a nervous man absorbed in mental 
work. It was quick, then slow ; often he would stop alto- 
gether and scrape a figure in the dust with his walking- 
stick. Otherwise, he was continually clinking a chain or 
coins in his hands, tossing them backwards and for- 
wards, pausing suddenly and staring straight before 
him saying nothing, then again the rapid, unceasing 
working of his hands. The chain he carried was a 
horse's curb, and he said that on many occasions after 
playing with it in a railway carriage he was relieved to 
find himself deserted by the other travellers. 

He was always moving some part of his body. When 
reading he waved one foot without ceasing. His was a 
nervous temper — a short, quick temper — and when 
aroused over some mean act or something underhand, his 
Celtic nature carried him sometimes rather too far. But 
he knew his weakness and was very careful to keep calm 
as much as possible. 

On holiday time he was fond of walking and sitting in 
the sun. With no covering on his face he would sit for 
hours in blazing sunshine with great enjoyment, and no 



HOME LIFE AND FOREIGN TRAVEL 141 

sun from the Nile to Perthshire ever made him feel ill. 
He also drove, but in latter days was so lost in thought 
that the corners were apt to be taken sharply. It was 
his great joy to go to the livery stables, and as an ex- 
perienced judge of a horse, to renew his old acquaintance 
with the country. Once he had entered a stable and 
was looking at a fine black horse with a view to hiring 
him for the summer holidays. 

" Is he sound? " 

" Oh, ay, he's quite sound." 

"Is he quiet?" 

" Oh, ay, he's quiet enough." 

Then followed a long pause. 

" Look here," said Watson, " what's the matter with 
him? " 

" Oh, there's naething the matter with him, naething 
at all, but " — and this with a burst of confidence — 
" supposing that ye were in a narrow road with a dyke, 
and ye met a motor, weel I'm no saying so ye ken, but 
may be he'd just gae porp." 

" Ay," said Watson, " let us get along. I'm wonder- 
ing where we'd porp to, possibly over the hedge. No, let 
us have the other one with the broken knees." 

The first prolonged break in his Liverpool life was in 
October, 1889. One Friday morning Watson, when at 
work in his study, was struck down with serious illness. 
The news came with a shock upon the congregation, and 
caused a feeling akin to consternation. Day by day in- 
formation was sought, and as there was no return of the 
symptoms by which his illness was first manifested, the 
alarm was somewhat allayed. The fact is that one of 



142 LIFE OP^ IAN :\1AC LAREN 

his lungs sooniod to give way, but ho had gone througli 
many examinations at the hands of doctors, and was 
considered bv them absokitely sound, wliilo his family 
history was porfoot. The doctors proscribed an absence 
of six months, and this holiday was one of the happiest 
times of his life. He went with his wife to the Riviera 
and to Egypt, and some of his cheerful letters to his 
people and his friends may be quoted. 

Mentone, November 'iGth, 1889. 
^Iy dear Mrs. P.. — You have doubtless hoard how it 
has fared with us since that forenoon when you and other 
true friends saw us leave for this long absence, how we 
made a most favourable journey and had line weather at 
Cannes. Perhaps you may also have heard that somehow, 
we cannot say exactly how, I had the slightest relapse, and 
now I write to assure you that I am again prospering. 
The doctor at Cannes, a Liverpool man, a most skilful and 
kindly man, agreed exactly with my own doctor in their 
diagnosis. There is nothing wrong but what care and rest 
should cure, but he thinks that I have not been quite so 
careful of mj' body those last years, as I should have been, 
and this particular trouble is always a sign that nature is in 
arms. He insists on great care and quietness, and I mean 
to follow every direction and do all in my power to regain 
strength. But you must not think I plead guilty to care- 
lessness in the past: really it is a mistake to say so, for I 
always thought myself rather hypochondriac — so much are 
men misunderstood. Before leaving Liverpool I was much 
hurt by the doctor's directions which concluded, " and no 
public work." It seemed hard, but he was inexorable. 
** If I must do something and could not in fact hold my 



HOME LIFE AND FOREIGN TRAVEL 143 

tongue, I might havo singing lessons." After that I felt 
how useless it was to fight against popular delusion. We 
met at Cannes a very agreeable London lawyer, and we 
were thrown a good deal together. He told capital stories 
about our cleverest judges, and he also tasted some of my 
anecdotes, and so either through much speaking or other- 
wise I got a warning. We laid it to heart and made a 
plan in the trains. You may be interested to have the 
outlines of the safeguards of silence. Mrs. Watson to sit 
on my right preserving a stolid face and making one re- 
mark of course to show that we are happy tho' married. 
If the person on my left was a German I must listen to the 
past participle rattling past like the brake van at the end of 
a luggage-train, telling one that that marvel of engineering 
and constructive skill the German sentence is finished — 
then I was to gently clear my throat and this would be 
understood to be a German remark in concurrence. After 
which he would dig the foundations of another edifice. If 
my neighbour happened to be French then I was at once to 
attempt that imbecile smile with which an Englishman 
listens to a Frenchman, it being taken for granted that 
anything said in such a language must be more or less 
childish, and to be heard with indulgence, and then when 
he had made the last flourish I was to say " oui," but with 
reserve, as of one who wishes to take the matter into con- 
sideration, and after a little add with emphasis " oui, oui," 
which would ensure another shower of rhetoric. But every 
plan has to be judged by its success, and ours has only 
been a partial success. Mrs. Watson and I hardly ex- 
change a word, except outside, when she states her im- 
pressions of the scenery and I look. The " oui " policy 
succeeded admirably with my neighbour who was an old 
French doctor, and a trial to his compatriots above him. 



144 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

He was one of those exasperating people who pronounce 
every word slowly and complete every sentence perfectly, 
and is didactic from beginning to end. His theme is the 
climate of the Riviera, and on this he has been expatiating 
for three days, and there are one or two points still to be 
taken up. -But you can imagine that he is a nice soothing 
man to be with. His only drawback is that he is stout 
and at intervals sighs, a real sigh I mean, which affects his 
neighbourhood. His other neighbour, a German lady, has 
changed her place, and told me " I have heart disease, and 
could not hear those sighs all winter." I like a quiet, 
thoughtful man and don't mind. My trial has been with 
an English widow, touring about with two daughters, who 
is my vis-d-vis and will speak. " Just think of me here 
for days, and not one English person to speak to." It 
has been as the bursting of a reservoir, and I lie in the 
track. Her two subjects for choice are Mr. Spurgeon, 
who lives beside her, and the remarkable and solemn fact 
that she is the mother of seventeen children. When she 
announced this one evening in the drawing-room, several 
foreigners, who just knew what she said, were permanently 
impressed. They regard her with admiring interest, and 
the more thoughtful have got sidelight on the secret of our 
success as a Colonising nation. Personally, however, I 
have never shared that reverence for population statistics 
which Mr. Arnold declares a characteristic of the British 
Philistine. So I chose Mr. Spurgeon and know all about 
him now, his carriages, homes, top-coats with fur cuffs, 
and his average diet. Thus I combined pleasure to the 
mind with profit to the body, and gathered the harvest of 
a quiet tongue. Our plan, you see, has points, and we 
made it up between Cannes and Nice, and from Nice we 
returned and gave ourselves to scenery. By the way, I 



HOME LIFE AND FOREIGN TRAVEL 145 

may mention, altho' I hope not ostentatiously, that we have 
homes all over the Continent and all in charming places. 
We have a Schloss on the Rhine, looking down on the 
bend of the river where the midday sun lights up the sea- 
green water: a Casa at Florence: upon the Arno from 
whose upper windows one gets a glimpse of the street 
where Romola lived and not ten minutes from the Pitti. 
Then we have a Lodge buried in firs with a background of 
purple heather at the head of one of the Scotch Lochs, and 
thence can see the sun go down red behind the Skye hills — 
when we grow Jacobitish, and Mrs. Watson sings " Over 
the Sea to Skye," and we think of Prince Charlie. Nor 
must I forget an old Spanish Castle at San-Sebastian to 
which I rode across from France one spring day, and 
found to let. It was not in my heart to resist an appeal 
directed so significantly to English hearts, and so we took 
possession there and then, and lay in the sun on its tower, 
with the lizards playing round us as we meditated on the 
" grandeur that was Spain." You envy me, which is 
natural, but you must not accuse me of extravagance. 
Those houses are kept up for me without costing us a 
penny, except the Spanish Castle, which is in want of re- 
pair. One enjoys without owning. Both art and nature 
and higher ranges still belong to him who sees their beauty 
and loves them. I wish I had more meekness, but still I 
find I do inherit much of the goodness of life and better 
men go up and down the Promised Land. 

But there is one beautiful spot on this Riviera the wrong 
people possess, and that is Monte Carlo. The situation is 
most picturesque and the climate warm and genial, and I 
suppose there is not on earth a fountain of greater misery. 
One knows when you are coming near the place by the 
people who come into your carriage. One man travelled 



146 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

'from Cannes with us who gave us grave concern. He 
pulled down the blinds that he might not be disturbed by 
the scenery: then he sat alternately every thirty seconds 
on two sides of his door: he sometimes stood for a change. 
He did sums in his head and then on paper: he forgot some 
rule and then worried with his hair till he had it again. 
Had all this happened on the L. and N.-W., we should 
have left the carriage in order to give him more freedom. 
But as it was, we only whispered, he is going to Monte 
Carlo and he is doing his calculations. He was as anxious 
as if he had been going in for the Indian C.S. Very likely 
he was cleaned out before we sat down to dinner: I was 
never so moved to give a tract in my life: " The Gambler 
of Monte Carlo: a true story," or some such thing. As 
far as one can gather, the upper-class rascaldom of Europe 
seems to come to a focus there, and unfortunately the place 
has an unholy attraction for quite respectable people. 
The German lady with heart disease, has just been work- 
ing a roulette machine in the drawing-room, and showing 
how to stake your money. She goes to the concerts twice 
a week, which are very fine and free, and feels bound to 
gamble a few minutes in return. To-day she lost thirty 
francs. 

Mentone is the other extreme from Monte Carlo. It is, 
indeed, very different from Cannes or Nice. The place is 
not countrified: it is simple and homelike. How amusing 
it is to notice the rivalry between those health resorts. 
Each depreciates the other and exalts itself. The Cannes 
hotelkeeper said Mentone was well enough if we must go 
on. " Warmer than Cannes ? Well, it was, that is why 
people don't go there. The worst cases only are sent 
there." He gave you to understand that Mentone was 
simply a hospital for incurables. The Mentone man con- 



HOME LIFE AND FOREIGN TRAVEL 147 

gratulated us on having got away from Cannes. " Was it 
not healthy ? " " Well, strong people born and bred there 
might be able to stand it, but strangers should insure their 
lives." Recently we have had fiercely cold weather here: 
I hinted at the ]\Iistral, the opprobrium of this district, 
but he repudiated the idea, spoke as if he hardly knew the 
word, but on my repeating Mistral, recollected there was 
such a wind, and excused his stupidity, because it did not 
blow at Mentone. It was a Cannes and Nice wind. As 
regards the east wind which we now have, he simply denies 
it — it is a west wind. I expect to hear that it is one of the 
advantages of Mentone that the east wind is taken round 
by the west to be modified. I hope those hotelkeepers may 
be forgiven: I think they will. It is partly because they 
have hard, anxious work to get any profit out of a five 
months' season, with their enormous expenses, and partly 
out of sheer good nature to cheer invalids. " Everybody 
gets well here," said my man; " oh, yes, they go home fat 
and laughing." I am afraid hardly, but God bless the 
man's kind heart, for he wanted to cheer up a pale-faced 
and dejected Englishman. People do progress here, I 
fancy, for I have seen one or two faces looking better on 
the promenade since we came. One young man whom we 
saw in a chair on Tuesday is now fairly on his legs, and 
we have made up " The Invalid's Progress : a brief view of 
Mentone." 

1. Emaciated figure arrives at Station in rugs. 

2. He is hurled in bath-chair. 

3. Sits on seat on Promenade, shawled and shaded. 

4. Walks wrapped up, with stick. 

5. Takes two promenades a day with light top- 
coat. 

6. Sits in cafe hearing band, and drinking Munich beer. 



148 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

7. Obese figure forces himself into railway carriage and 
goes home. Voild. 

But I see Mr. P., the kindest and most courageous of 
hearers ever placed by Providence just before the pulpit, 
looking at the clock. No wonder, I have sadly trans- 
gressed, and the worst of it is that I have half a dozen 
points still untouched. The situation of Mentone — the 
nature of Italian goats, which is a chapter in natural 
history — ^the sardine-fishers landing their nets, one of our 
day-studies. But I am merciful to those who, in the pa- 
thetic phrase of our fathers, " sit under me." (Was that 
intended for humour or was it sheer tragedy?) 

Mr. B. considered my last letter as what we call a 
general epistle, and he read it to the ** saints scattered 
abroad." Should you desire to take a good-natured re- 
venge on him, then I have placed a weapon in your hand 
still longer than his. 

We are now looking towards the East, and are planning 
after a few weeks more here to start for Naples ; this must 
depend on my strength and also confidence that I can make 
something of the visit to Egypt. It is a little hard to be 
quiet, but in quietness for a few weeks still is my strength. 

But East or West we ever remember with warm heart the 
friends of that circle round which the last letter went, and 
from which it would receive that indulgence which has been 
extended to greater faults than so slight an epistle could 
contain. — With our warmest regards, believe me, yours 
most faithfully, John Watson. 



From Mentone he went to Alassio, from which he 
writes to a brother-minister who had formerly assisted 
him at Sef ton Park : — 



HOME LIFE AND FOREIGN TRAVEL 149 

January 4>th, 1890. 
Your very handwriting raised my spirits, and much more 
was I cheered by your welcome news and kind words. 
There are so many letters I must write, and when they are 
off my hands, I rest from pen and ink. I have never loved 
them, though they are the marks of my trade, but I would 
have been writing you if you had not forestalled me. As 
regards my health, to clear away that disagreeable but 
inevitable subject, I am holding my own in spite of most 
trying weather. My general health is good, and there is 
no active mischief in the lung, but it remains weak and 
will only very slowly improve. Its condition is that of a 
healed scar — that must ever be there, but once I am strong 
will give no trouble, only a clever doctor will always be 
able to find it. What would now completely cure would be 
warm weather and fresh air. This I had to some extent 
up to Christmas. Since then the weather has been so cold 
and wet, I have been almost confined to the house; now 
that is how the matter stands. My hope and belief is, that 
God will allow me to resume work sooner or later, if not, 
my strength has been given to His service, and all is well. 
What has done it all, the doctors say, is overwork and 
laborious public speaking. So. Your account of yourself 
is most interesting, and everything that concerns you, will 
ever concern me. You must not be too much cast down by 
either the intellectual or spiritual deficiencies of your flock. 
Out of a comparatively small congregation in a manufac- 
turing town, you cannot expect many leaders. Here is a 
work to do, to teach your young people to love books. You 
might form a reading society with meetings to speak about 
books, and help one another. The more informal the bet- 
ter. If you will allow me to compare great things and 
small, I had one such club in my kitchen at Logiealmond! 



150 I.IFK C)F IAN AlAri.VrxKN 

It did tirst-rato. "Tis harder to oroato spiritual V\(c. W'c 
muvst prcaoh Christ, cspcvially His love ami doath i>n Ihi^ 
Cn>ss, and pray for the Spirit. My fit ling is that a xnnw- 
bor of our Soots oongrogations in Kngland aro dull and 
dead. Hold toiji^thor not so nuioh by tho Spirit of Christ 
as by projudioo:? and *' isms." But you will bo tho uuans 
of bringing alxnit bottor things. I do not foar. It is a mat- 
tor of sinooTO rogrot that I oannot ollioiato at your marriago 
to one whom I so ostoom as your futuro wifo. It had boon 
a vory happy day for mo as woll as you. Wo shall think 
of you that day, and bosoooh for your unitod livos CuhI's 
best blessings. If somo small tokon of our friendship 

should reaoh Miss , I hope it may prove aoooptable. I 

wish we had been at Iiomo to ohoose it. 

They are managing wonderfully at Softon Park, they 
aro so well fed that it will seem short oonnnons when they 

land in the old pastorate. Mr. has shown his entire 

fitness for his position as Tremior and has boon well sup- 
ported. You will sometimes see a traee of an old hand in 
tho magazine. 

Wo are now living in our former home and feel thankful 
to be hero in suoh bad weather. We spent a quiet Christ- 
mas, but roooived oven hero upwards of a hundred oards 
;uid letters. People are so kind, somo of tlie letters are 
most touohing. One of the best oamo from Mrs. M., the 
doorkeeper of tho south gallery. It was a oharming lot- 
tor, ;uid told how tlio servants there had boon asking for 

me ; is not that nice } Professor of Liverpool and his 

wifo aro with us. Ho is a most interesting man and most 
modest: I believe he is eonsiderod one of the future Fara- 
days of scionoe. Then we have also a young doetor, very 
nice too, in the house. So wo are very learned — not to 
mention that a Soots Professor, and a Fellow of Trinity 



HOME LIFE AND FOREIGN TRAVEL L51 

CoUcffft, Cambridge, have been with us for a short time. 
They are gone. Influenza, I am sorry to say, is now here, 
and I hope we shall escape it. It would be rather serious 
for me, I fear, otherwise it is not alarming, but I begin to 
drive — talking about influenza, I had better stop in time, 
so with every good wish for the New Year and warmest 
united regards. — Yours affectionately, John Watson. 

PS. — You did as much good to me as I ever did to you. 
Alas, no orange blossom now! 

He came home in April much refreshed, and resumed 
bis labours with a happy heart. The holiday had done 
its work. For years after his stren^h was never seri- 
ously impaired. His retrospect of this incident may he 
seen in a letter which he addressed later to his friend, the 
Rev. Dr. Aked, then of Pembroke Baptist Church, now 
of New York. Dr. Aked was then ordered abroad for 
the same malady : — 

TO DR. AKED 

May Hth, 1893. 

Dear Dr. Aked, — When you left for the Riviera I 
imagined that you were on the high road to complete 
recovery, and I trust that you were on that way, but I 
learned with regret and some anxiety from this morning's 
paper that you are not making that rapid progress which 
we all desire. 

As I cannot call at your foreign residence, tho' I should 
dearly love to do so, for selfish as well as friendly reasons, 
I must fall back upon a letter, and since I cannot write a 
long letter without my hand trembling and my writing is 
bad enough at any time, I am falling back on the machine. 



152 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

which really fills my friends with gratitude. First let me 
begin with exhortation, for as Professor Davidson used to 
say, " preaching is a bad habit, and if you once get into it 
you may never be able to get out of it," but on this oc- 
casion mine is to be like the speech of Barnabas, " comfort- 
able exhortation." Do not consider that a strange thing 
has befallen you, for no man can do as much as you have 
done, and put yourself so thoroughly into your work, with- 
out suffering both in body and in soul. So far as I can 
judge watching your career in Liverpool, you have done 
what every man has not, you have given yourself, and it is 
one thing to make speeches and preach sermons in a state 
of safe detachment from the subject, and another to speak 
from the marrow of your bones. A man pays a price who 
does this, and doubtless also he obtains his reward as you 
have done, in the impression you have produced upon so 
large a multitude, and the confidence with which they 
follow you. 

My next head is, that this breakdown will not, please 
God, do you any permanent injury, but be rather in the 
end of help. Some fourteen years ago I had myself a 
sudden and unexpected breakdown of a serious character, 
and in an unexpected direction. Having passed many ex- 
aminations at the hands of doctors, and being considered 
an absolutely sound man, and having also a perfect family 
history, and having come to the age of thirty-nine, one of 
my lungs gave way. I had not many symptoms as they 
call it, nor did I suffer much, but things looked rather bad, 
and I went from home for six months. Since that time I 
have done harder work than at any other period in my 
working career, and except a brief attack of influenza I 
have never been ill since in any shape or form, till in a 
moment of inexcusable folly I took an office, the Moderator- 



HOME LIFE AND FOREIGN TRAVEL 153 

ship of our Church, for which I was absolutely unsuited, and 
since then I have been suffering from insomnia, nervous- 
ness, and an enormous access of stupidity, in which I have 
discovered resources of dulness which even my past ex- 
periences never prepared me for. Still that attack passed 
off and left no disability. 

Wherefore cheer up, and take courage. 

Passing on, as the old preachers used to say (it was a 
weary passing often), consider what a great work you have 
done in Liverpool. You have proved that an empty build- 
ing in an unpromising quarter can be filled to the doors, 
and kept filled from year to year by preaching, and this is 
an instructive achievement in the present day. You some- 
times take a position with which I do not agree, just as I 
on my part belong very largely to that middle school, which 
used to be called the Moderate School in Scotland, which 
I have no doubt you would be tempted to criticise, but I 
have ever believed that you have delivered a true and 
kindly message from God on the greatest questions of life 
and righteousness, and I have regarded with admiration 
the thoroughness of your teaching and the masculine 
vigour of your style. In ordinary circumstances I would 
not say such things, for they would be in doubtful taste, 
but I do not see why in time of sickness, one should not 
offer to his brother such poor cordial of respect and esteem 
as it is in his power to bring. 

And now to bring the sermon to a close with practical 
advice, let me speak faithfully to two classes. First to 
Mrs. Aked, exhorting her to keep jealous watch over you, 
and to secure you in a state of absolute idleness, to insist 
upon you eating and drinking to a shameful extent, to 
prevent you bothering about letters, whether they be taxes 
or sermons (from doddering old ministers), and to be 



154 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

prouder than ever of her husband, who has come back for 
a little Mounded from the front. 

Next, and finally to yourself, that you be quite sure your 
illness is in the plan of God, and that it is an immense 
opportunity not for reading nor even thinking, but simply 
absolute resting, that you have deserved your furlough, and 
that after the doctors have passed you again (desperate 
rascals but going to take a front seat in the next world 
in spite of us all) you will join the regiment again, where 
they are keeping up the good fight, in which victors and 
vanquished rejoice together. 

" One word more," as those gray-haired deceivers used 
to say, when we thought the sermon was done, let no 
answer be sent to this letter, which is written simply to 
assure you that a fellow-minister in Liverpool is thinking 
about you and praying that you may be soon restored to 
health, and that in the meantime, the grace of God be ex- 
ceeding abundant in your experience. — Believe me, with 
sincere regard, yours faithfully, John Watson. 



CHAPTER IX 

"BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH" 

For fifteen years Watson had been steadily building 
up his congregation and his influence in the city of 
Liverpool. Though he had been in the highest degree 
successful, he was not much known outside of Liverpool 
and his own church and denomination. He had made no 
attempt at authorship. The only article he had pub- 
lished was a brief biographical sketch of his friend and 
neighbour, the late Dr. Alexander Macleod of Birken- 
head. This appeared in the Sunday Magazine. I must 
say something about the circumstances under which he 
began to write for the press, especially as he, with his 
habitual generosity, has greatly exaggerated my share 
in the matter. As editor of the Expositor, I wrote to 
Watson somewhere about 1890 asking for an occasional 
contribution. At that time my acquaintance with him 
was extremely slight. He replied saying that he was a 
hard-working preacher and pastor, and had no time for 
learned research, but that he had thought of publishing 
some religious booklets similar to The Greatest Thing m 
the World and other very popular little volumes issued 
by Professor Henry Drummond. Nothing came of this, 
however, and the subject was not renewed till two or 
three years later, when I wrote to Watson again, and 
suggested that he should write some papers for the 
Expositor on the Leading Ideas of Jesus. 

155 



156 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

This interested him, and he came up to London and 
stayed a few days at my house. The Expositor articles 
were arranged for, and were afterwards pubHshed in a 
volume entitled The Mind of the Master. I was so much 
struck with the racy stories and character-sketches with 
which Watson regaled us, that I suggested he should 
make some articles out of them. The idea had never 
struck him, and was at first unwelcome. But I kept on 
persuading him. I had no success till I was accompany- 
ing him to the station, when I pressed the matter on him. 
Just before he said good-bye he promised to try, and in a 
few days the first sketch arrived. It was clever, but dis- 
appointing. It told how the schoolmaster went to 
Drumsheugh with the purpose of inducing him to sup- 
port a promising boy at the University. It described 
how, under the influence of succeeding tumblers of toddy, 
Drumsheugh's heart gradually warmed to the idea, till 
at last he gave his promise. I returned this to Watson 
stating objections. He sent a second sketch, also more 
or less unsatisfactory. Then he sent the first four 
chapters of what is now known as The Bonnie Brier 
Bush complete, and I knew on reading them that his 
popularity was assured. The first was published in 
the British Weekly of November 2, 1893, under the 
title, " How we Carried the News to Whinnie Knowe." 
It attracted attention at once, and the impression was 
deepened as the stories were continued. Almost im- 
mediately the nom-de-plume which he selected, Ian Mac- 
laren, was widely recognised. He took the Gaelic form 
of his own Christian name John, and the surname of his 
mother. There was very little mystification about the 



" BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH " 157 

authorship. His own friends knew the tales they had 
heard from him. Dr. George Adam Smith sent him a 
post-card on the appearance of the first sketch, 
" Bravo, Ian Maclaren ! " and was answered by another 
post-card containing the words, " Bravo, Higher 
Criticism ! " Watson gave extraordinary care and 
labour to the construction of his first short stories. He 
said himself: — 

Each one was turned over in my mind for months before 
I put pen to paper. It took a prodigious amount of labour 
before I even had a story formed in my head. Then I 
blocked it out at one sitting. Then the thing was put 
aside while I went over and over in my mind each detail, 
each line of dialogue, each touch of description, determin- 
ing on the proper place, attitude, share, colour, and quality 
of each bit, so that the whole might in the end be a unit, 
and not a bundle of parts. By and by came the actual 
writing with the revision and the correction which accom- 
panies and follows. The actual composition of the Brier 
Bush occupied fifteen months. They were the more dif- 
ficult because in every case the character is revealed in 
dialogue exclusively. It is different when the writer has a 
plot, because then there is something definite to hold the 
attention, and one can dash ahead, but I was compelled to 
make slow progress. 

In his later work he did not take such pains. His 
life was too much crowded for careful preparation and 
revision. But in Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, and the 
volume that followed it, he was at liis very best, drawing 
upon the fresh fountain of his recollections, and sparing 
no pains with his style. The sketches were published 



158 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

under the title Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush in October, 
1894. They were instantly welcomed, both in this 
country and in America, as very few first books have 
been welcomed. My friend, Mr. Frank Dodd, the head 
of the great firm of Messrs. Dodd, Mead and Co., in 
New York, was persuaded by me during a long after- 
noon to publish the book (the contents of which he had 
not seen), but he had no expectation that it would have 
a large American sale. The public, however, was 
ready. The great success of Mr. J. M. Barrie's stories 
— success achieved against a combination of difficulties 
which some of the shrewdest publishers judged to be in- 
superable — had paved the way for others. Along with 
Mr. Barrie and Mr. Crockett, Ian Maclaren was dubbed 
a member of the Kailyard School. There was in reality 
hardly anything in common among these writers save 
that they all wrote on Scottish life and character, and 
also on Scottish religion. 

A few figures will best indicate the popularity of 
Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush. In Great Britain 
256,000 copies have been sold in various editions; in 
America the sale has amounted to 484,000, and this 
exclusive of an incomplete pirated edition which was 
circulated in enormous numbers at a high price. The 
critics of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush were friendly, 
and even enthusiastic. I have not been able to trace a 
single unfavourable review. The Spectator published a 
second review because the first was not cordial enough. 
Queen Victoria was an admiring reader. I have before 
me letters from many of the most eminent men of the 
day expressing their admiration. Those from medical 



" BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH " 159 

men are particularly striking, and I may venture to 
quote a few lines from Sir Dyce Duckworth: — 



December 27th, 1894. 
Ian Maclaren's book is most touching and interesting. 
If you know the writer you may tell him his writings pull 
at my heart-strings, and there is an atmosphere of Heaven 
in them, which is very refreshing in these days when good 
men are wasting so much time over trifles. This man is 
a modern prophet, and I have hardly read anything I have 
liked better since I was steeped in Charles Kingsley's writ- 
ings. One needs one's Scottish blood to enjoy it properly. 
The pure Englishman will take it in with more difficulty. 

Dyce Duckworth. 



Ian Maclaren, as we may now call him, had a very 
hearty friendship for the then Bishop of Liverpool, the 
stout-minded English Evangelical, better known as J. C. 
Ryle. Ryle, who was himself master of a powerful 
and interesting style, wrote as follows: — 

FROM THE BISHOP OF LIVERPOOL 

December 29th, 1894. 
Dear Mr. Watson, — You must let an old minister 
thank you very much for " Ian Maclaren's " book; it has 
touched my heart, and brought more tears to my eyes than 
anything I have read for a long time. May God bless 
your pen, and make use of it for His own glory. 

Accept every good wish for 1895. — Yours most sincerely. 

J. C. Liverpool. 



160 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

TO MRS. STEPHEN WILLIAMSON 

November \st, 1894. 
Li2AR Mrs. Williamson, — From a letter this morning I 
learn that the book cannot be obtained in Edinburgh for 
love or money. This is nonsense, for the new edition is 
out, but it shows how good a thing it is to have the head 
of a Salon on one's side, as used to happen in France. 
Hope the book will not make Mr. Gladstone weep for his 
eye's sake. The Daily Chronicle reviewer locked himself 
into a room. — Your affectionately, John Watson. 

I am permitted by Mrs. Stephen Williamson to give 
a letter in which she records Mr. Gladstone's talk about 
the book. 

FROM MRS. STEPHEN WILLIAMSON 

December 28th, 1894. 
My dear Mr. Watson, — I was at Hawarden yesterday 
at luncheon. I was in the library of the house where the 
grand old man was busily correcting proofs for America, 
and had heartily welcomed me in, saying, " you will ex- 
cuse and I shall not know you are in the room." This 
with a genial smile and merry twinkle of his splendid 
eyes. I ventured among the books to ask Mrs. Drew if 
her father had begun the Brier Bush yet? " Oh ! dear yes, 
here it is all marked over with pencil, he is perfectly en- 
chanted with it and has so much enjoyed it, I can't tell 
you how much." At the same moment, taking up the well- 
known book, and then saying, " Ah, this is another copy 
which some one has sent him and he has given it to me; 
this is mine." I took it up and found the paper inside 
saying it came from Hodder and Stoughton. We could 



"BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH" 161 

not lay our hands on the original without making a fuss, 
but I would like to get back that marked copy I gave him. 
Before we came away he came into the drawing-room to 
ask me about two Scots ministers, their histories, etc., and 
I then put in my word, and asked if he liked the Bonnie 
Brier Bush. He was a little perplexed at first, and very 
politely but gravely said, " I am sorry, I am afraid I have 
not yet found time for the pleasure of reading it, but there 
is a book by a countryman of yours that I have been im- 
mensely delighted with. There are several sketches in it, 
many of them very beautiful, but one in particular about 
a country doctor." " Oh, that's my book," said I. " Ah, 
is it really? I am so glad; of course I have read it with 
great delight. I did not recognise the name, pardon me, 
but I have had very great enjoyment in that book. The 
papers are not all equal, but it is a very fine book, and 
there has never been anything written finer than the sketch 
of that country doctor." 

*' Don't you also like the * Lad o' Pairts ' } " 

Oh, very much, very much, most touching, most true 
and beautiful." 

At this point I called up Archie to come and hear Mr. 
Gladstone on his minister and his book. We told him 
about your big rich congregation, the mission churches 
begun, continued, and flourishing. Also adopted the 
language of the commercial young person, as to Mr. Wat- 
son as a man. " I can well believe it all, he must be a fine 
man indeed who can write like that. Is he Free Church 
or Established or U.P. ? " I explained as well as I could 
the mystery of the English Presbyterian Church, but I did 
not tell him you were a Tory. Wasn't that kind of me 
now? — Ever yours most truly, 

Annie Williamson. 



162 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

TO THE SAME 

Becemher ^29tJh 189 4. 

Dear Mrs. Williamson, — Many thanks for your kind 
note with Mr. Gladstone's welcome approbation. It is 
wonderful that he finds time for reading stories. 

By the same post had letter from working man, whose 
sweetheart had given the book to him on Christmas Eve 
with a pair of socks. Also a note praying that on their 
marriage they might live like the people in the Glen. 

My best wishes for you all at this time. 

John Watson. 

I add some more letters addressed to Mrs. Stephen 
Williamson at this time. 

TO MRS. STEPHEN WILLIAMSON 

May 2Sth, 1894. 

My dear Mrs. Williamson, — I can only imagine what 
some obscure poet of the third order may have felt when 
he got favourable notice from Browning, but that is some- 
thing like my state of exaltation at receiving so kind a 
note about my trifles from one of the experts in Scottish 
art. 

If my efforts to represent Scottish life please you, I 
have some hope. 

Dr. Xicoll insists on a book in Autumn: I hope L. will 
order copies for the Liverpool Presbytery: With such help 
of charitable people it may succeed. 

The " Sermon-Taster " will be followed up by the " Col- 
lapse of ]SIrs. MacFadyen " this week. One of the High- 
land brethren was too much for her. Unless Dr. Nicoll 
be afraid. 



"BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH" 163 

I often think of you, and if I had one hour to myself 
when in London would do myself the pleasure of calling. 
But I have to drudge all the day, and half the night. — 
Yours faithfully, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

January 11th, 1895. 

Dear Mrs. Williamson, — The success of the book will 
be divided between two, you for Great Britain and 
Colonies, and Mr. Andrew Carnegie for the United States. 

Yesterday I had an enthusiastic letter from the famous 
ironmaster, inviting me to Cluny where he occupies the 
fastness of the MacPhersons: To-day yours comes with the 
staff of Punch at your heels. Well, well, it is good to 
have friends: I wish I deserved them. 

All this trouble on your part is most friendly and I feel 
it very deeply. Le Gallienne, Ashcroft Noble, and Lucy 
all have asked to see me in London, and another set have 
put up my name for the Savile Club. Don't tell dear Mrs. 
G., for I'm really the doucest of men. 

TO THE SAME 

January 2gth, 1895. 
Dear Mrs. Williamson, — The thought of Rhodes 
Africanus planting the Brier Bush over the new South 
African Empire is inspiring. Instead of the (fill in 
African Botany) shall come up the Brier, and " instead 
of Matabele shall be Drumsheugh." Sounds well. I have 
always regarded Rhodes as a hero — an Elizabethan 
Englishman: This willingness to read classical literature 
convinces me thaft I was right. Can anything be done 
with the Czar? He is a well-intentioned young man and 



164 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

ought to be encouraged. But these are matters I must 
leave in your hands. — Yours faithfully^ John Watson. 



For a special reason I give a letter from the late 
James Ashcroft Noble, a critic whom many of us still 
remember with affection and esteem. It was the be- 
ginning of a friendship between Noble and Watson. 

FROM MR. JAMES ASHCROFT NOBLE 

October 10th, 1894«. 
My dear Sir, — Although I am a stranger to you I think 
real gratitude or rather the expression of it may be 
reckoned among the few rights of strangerhood, and there- 
fore I make no apology at all for telling you how largely 
I am your debtor, for the high and rare delight given me 
by the Brier Bush. I read the book more than a week ago, 
and felt impelled to write at once and express my profound 
obligation, but just then I was simply overwhelmed with 
work, and found myself unable to write anything in addi- 
tion to the review which appears in the Daily Chronicle, 
and which you will probably see before you receive this 
note. Of the inadequacy of that review as a rendering of 
the total impression stamped by the volume no one can be 
more conscious than myself. It deals merely with its more 
obvious qualities of pathos and humour and leaves un- 
touched, or all but untouched, the penetrating, spiritual 
and imaginative insight which gives to the work so much 
of its momentum. Only one disturbing thought mingles 
with my delight. In 1892 I lived for nine months in 
Upper Parliament Street, Liverpool, and I believe that 
some friends of mine were friends or acquaintances of 



" BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH " 165 

yours also. I shall never cease to regret the ignorance 
which prevented me from seeking the pleasure of meeting 
and conversing with you, but I hope that some happy day 
may bring me this gratification. — Yours most heartily and 
gratefully, James Ashcroft Noble. 

Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush sold on its own merits, 
apart from advertisements and reviews. The public 
somehow got to know of it, and soon almost every one 
was reading it. There is no great mystery about its 
success. Charles Reade's recipe for a good novel as 
given to David Christie Murray ran thus : " Make 'em 
laugh, make 'em cry, make 'em wait." Ian Maclaren 
made his readers laugh and cry, and when the matter is 
considered this will appear no small feat. 

He was avowedly a sentimentalist in literature, and It 
is from this point of view that his work in fairness must 
be considered. M. Texte, in his admirable and sym- 
pathetic study of Rousseau, has treated the whole ques- 
tion of sentimentalism in literature with masterly skill 
and insight. His analysis applies to all sentimentalists, 
from the least to the greatest. He begins with the 
flower and crown of sentimental novels, the incomparable 
Clarissa Harlowe. He tells us how when we first read 
that epoch-making book, curiosity is stirred after a few 
pages. A vague atmosphere of love floats like a half- 
evaporated perfume from the dimming pages. The 
names take on colour, the shadows start into being, the 
old memories live and move before your eyes. Hours 
pass, and still you read on, your emotions stirred, and 
as it were rocked by the rhythm of the long-vanished 



166 LIFE OF IAN ^lACLAREN 

existence. At one part it all becomes deeply pathetic. 
Then there is keen agony ; a cry of despair rises from 
the depths of the past. " What is this story to me and 
to you.'' •* you ask — brushing awa^^ a tear as you say so. 
If realism is the art of giying the impression of actual 
life, Richardson is the greatest of realists. 

But thouofh Richardson's achieyement remains unsur- 
passed. Rousseau made great and definite contributions 
to the literature of sentiment. In the first place, he 
pro-yided a framework for the picture of life. The 
noyel of Richardson's time was a drama without stage 
scenery. Rousseau felt this. Bernardin de Saint Pierre 
tells us that he found fault with Richardson's work as a 
whole, because he did not attach the memory of his 
readers to any spot the scenery of which we should haye 
liked to recognise. It is impossible, he says, to think of 
Acliilles without at the same time seeing the plains of 
Troy. We follow .Eneas along the coasts of Latium. 
Virgil is not only the painter of loye and war : he is also 
the painter of his natiye land. This characteristic of 
genius is lacking in Richardson. Rousseau places the 
history of sorrows and raptures in a memorable frame. 
Mr. Barrie and Ian ^laclaren do the same. There are 
certain figures whom we shall always see upon the brae 
in Thrums; the farmhouses in Drumtochty are peopled 
by friends. Nature herself is brought in as one of the 
characters, and plays a great part in the drama. Their 
passionate attachment to the Glen is one of the chief 
charms of Ian ^laclaren's characters. He knows the 
misery of the dispossessed in Scotland, of those who haye 
been driyen from 



"BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH" 16: 

The place we cling to, puir simple auld fules, 

Of oor births and oor bridals, oor mirths and oor dules, 

Where the wee bits o' bairnies lie cauld in the mools. 



There are no more beautiful passages in his idylls than 
those which describe the sun shining on the river below 
the mill, the caller air blowing down the glen, the narrow 
road through pinks and moss roses to the dear old door, 
the place where the birch bends over the burn and the 
primroses grow under its shadows, the corner of the 
kirkyard where a hardy rose-tree has opened the last 
flower of the year. 

Under the guidance of Rousseau, the sentimentalists 
have turned to humble life, and have glorified love. 
Lowell has said that the clearing away of the woods 
scants the streams, and in the same way civilisation has 
dried up some feeders that help to swell the current of 
individual and personal force. In Drumtochty there 
were few events. The ploughing match, the school ex- 
amination, the winter lecture where an inhabitant of the 
Glen moved a vote of thanks, and the Sabbath day, 
ranked as the most important of outward things. These 
are admirably described in the idylls. Ian Maclaren 
had that taste for details and that faculty for exactly 
observing little facts which make such passages vital. 
And if the outward is little, the inward is great. The 
stories are full of love, and the author gives a deep lyric 
accent to his praise of the affection between son and 
mother, between sister and brother, between friend and 
friend. Dr. Maclure sums it all up : " Wark comes first, 
an' the fechtin' awa' wi' oor cauld land, an' wringin' 



168 LIFE OF I AX :\IACLAREN 

eneuch out o't tao pay for rent and livin' pits smeddiim 
(spirit) into a man. Syne comes love tae maist o's an- 
teaches some selfish, shallow cratiir tae play the man for 
a wumman's sake ; an' laist comes sorrow, that gars the 
loudest o's tae haud his peace." But all the stories il- 
lustrate Lacordaire's great saying that love has but one 
word to utter, and while it is ever sajdng it, it never re- 
peats it. To Ian Maclaren, as to all true sentimentalists 
(I am using the word in its nobler sense), love is an 
irresistible need of the soul. With all its long proces- 
sion of troubles, anxieties, and sorrows, love is the 
highest and deepest manifestation of immortal being. 

A parallel of profound interest is to be found in the 
place assigned to religion by the older sentimentalists 
and the new. The position of Ian ^laclaren seems to be 
the same as that of Rousseau. Rousseau alwa^^s pro- 
fessed to be religious. He thought that there was a 
certain want of moral depth and grandeur wherever re- 
ligion was left out, and he would probably have said that 
tliis was necessary, for without religion the loftiest 
reaches of conduct were a form of insanity. At the 
close of his life Rousseau rejoiced that he had remained 
faithful to the prejudices of his childhood, and that he 
had continued a Christian up to the point of jnembership 
of the Universal Church. The words precisely describe 
the religion that is glorified in Ian Maclaren's books. 
He is not unjust to Evangelicalism, and one of his 
noblest characters is Burnbrae, a Free Church elder. 
But he lingers with most love and understanding on the 
^Moderates — Drumsheugh, Dr. Davidson, Dr. Maclure, 
and Jamie Soutar. Maclure, who has the best means of 



" BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH " 169 

knowing, declares that if there be a judgment and books 
be opened, there will be one for Drumtochty, and the 
bravest page in it will be Drumsheugh's. There is very 
little sympathy with modernity; the ministers who talk 
about two Isaiahs are laughed at, but there is just as 
little sympathy for extreme Evangelicalism. Plymouth- 
ism is treated as hypocrisy ; high Calvinism as almost too 
monstrous to be mentioned; while the particular forms 
in which the religion of revivals expresses itself are 
described with evident dislike. In this Ian Maclaren 
differed from his friend George Macdonald, whose books 
are full of dogma, and have suffered in consequence. 
But he is with Rousseau who was wont to insist that the 
Christianity which appeals only to the moral conscience 
is alone conformable to the Spirit of Christ. Conduct, 
character — these were the great results and tests of true 
religion. 

It is a fair question, " Have we true pictures in these 
idylls ? Is it thus and thus that people act or ever acted 
in a Scotch parish? " It must be remembered that idylls 
do not pretend to give a full chronicle of life. They 
try to seize the moments at which the hidden beauty of 
the soul leaps into vision. They do not take in the whole 
circumference of truth, and they do not profess to take 
it in. But they include a far wider area than is ever 
compassed by cynicism. And surely it is a great and 
precious gift to be able to detect the divine in the carnal, 
and to recognise angels in the disguise in which we 
always entertain them. It is much to be able to see and 
to show the perennial nobleness and heroism of the 
homeliest human nature. No doubt, if these only are 



170 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

described, the stories may and must cloy. But there was 
ill Ian Maclaren the saving sense of humour. He had 
very keen e3^cs, and he let us see at times that few things 
escaped them. He could have written a reahstic 
chronicle at which his critics would have started; he 
could if he pleased, and we believe he did in many cases 
give us nee deus nee lupus sed homo; but it was his 
avowed aim and end to bring out the idyllic element in 
life, and he thus helped to slake the eternal thirst of our 
nature for those waters of the ideal that glimmer before 
us and still before us. 

Did Ian Maclaren's idylls wholly escape the dangers 
of sentimentalism.'^ This is a question which cannot be 
answered in the affirmative. No doubt a disproportion- 
ate space is given to descriptions of deathbeds. The 
feelings are deliberately and cruelly harrowed by an ac- 
cumulation of pathetic incidents and words. Watson 
himself was well aware of this. All he had to say in 
reply was : " We ministers rarely see the brighter side of 
life. We are tolerated at weddings, I admit; we are 
more at home at funerals. People do not ask a minister 
to share family festivities. He most often hears painful 
disclosures, and meets death from day to day. This is 
apt to have a very sobering effect on his mind." It 
will not be supposed that I am trying to fix Ian Mac- 
laren's place in literature, or to compare him in point of 
power with the great names I have mentioned. But I 
have aimed at showing that something is common to the 
whole school of sentimentalists. The worth of Ian 
Maclaren's contribution will be determined by time, and 
when all abatement is made, there is that in his work 



" BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH " 171 

which may perhaps endure. Anyhow, no one can pos- 
sibly attach less importance to his books than the author 
did himself. On the side of his ministerial work he was 
very sensitive. Criticisms from members of his own 
church or congregation hit him very hard; for unless 
the charges were outrageously exaggerated, his great 
modesty made him doubtful whether he had not been 
found wanting. Any opposition from those of his own 
fellowship plunged him into the deepest depression. 
Nothing upheld him like kindly words from his people. 
But speaking after a close intimacy, I can say that I 
never saw him either depressed or elated by any 
criticisms of his books save on one occasion when it was 
suggested that he had not taken sufficient pains. He 
never looked at his books after they were published; he 
never allowed them to be spoken of in his family circle. 
In private conversation even with those concerned in 
their production he seemed to shun the subject, and often 
had to be forced on to a discussion of business details. 
In the inevitable reaction which followed his great 
popularity, some critics heartily abused his stories. 
This abuse did not wound him. If his books were praised 
without restraint, and if his name was ranked with that 
of Scott, he chuckled and reached out a hand for his 
waste-paper basket ; if, on the other hand, some one had 
criticised him unmercifully, he usually agreed quite 
genuinely with the sentiments of the writer, and put his 
review in his scrap-book. I never saw him show the 
faintest resentment at any purely literary criticism. 
The fact is that he looked upon literature as a mere di- 
version from the actual work of his life, and did not 



172 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

consent either to stand or to fall by it. He used to 
speak with a kind of humorous perplexity about the fact 
that Ian Maclaren was better known than John Watson. 
Even in the first blaze of his popularity, liis head was 
neyer turned. " Were I a 3'oung man," he would say, 
" I might be Hfted, but this Hterary fame has come to 
me in middle life, and I know how to estimate it." He 
was amazed by the success of the Boiuue Brier Bush. 
" A cheerful blaze," he once remarked, and added 
quietly, "" while it lasts." 

His first book, Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, pub- 
Hshed in 1894, was succeeded by The Days of Auld Lang 
Sijne, partly reprinted from Blackicood and other 
magazines in 1895. The two books are in reality one, 
and should go together. By this time his great popu- 
larity had crowded his life with engagements of every 
kind, and he was not able to do his literary work in 
quietness, as he had done it at first. All his other 
volumes were written under pressure, and show signs of 
it. But his third volume, Kate Carnegie and those 
Mijiistcrs, though not successful as a novel, contains 
much of his very best work. On this point I may quote 
a letter from the New York dramatic critic, Mr. William 
Winter : — 

January S\st, 1S97. 
I shall always prize tlie book that you have sent to me, 
and I shall always remember you with affection. When 
reading Kate Carnegie, I have been especially impressed 
with its insight into Scots character, both by delineation 
and suggestion, with its many Hashes of humour, its felicity 
of description, its extraordinary freshness of spirit, and 



"BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH" ITS 

the grace with which it produces artistic effects, by per- 
fectly simple means. I was especially pleased with the 
character of Doctor Saunderson, and for me the story 
struck twelve on page 201, at the old man's night of prayer 
for the happiness of his young friend. The feeling is pa- 
thetic beyond words. I shall read now The Days of Auld 
Lang Syne. Major Pond has very kindly assured me of 
your safe arrival home, and he has sent back the books in 
which you did me the honour to write, and has given me a 
portrait of you in a pretty little gilt frame, which now 
adorns my study. You have left a delightful memory in 
America, and your visit will be attended with long results 
of good; I wish you every blessing. 

Kate Carnegie, published in 1897, was followed by 
Afterwards and other Stories. The title story is in- 
tensely pathetic, and provoked much criticism. Eliza- 
beth Stuart Phelps wrote of it with unstinted admira- 
tion. He himself was inclined to prize it above most of 
his writings. There followed Young Barbarians, a book 
for boys, published in 1901. It was cordially received, 
and had a great circulation. Latterly he became almost 
morbidly anxious to comply with every invitation ad- 
dressed to him, and no fewer than four of his books, two 
of them books of fiction, appeared after his death. 
These were St. Jude^s, a book of Glasgow stories, and 
Graham of Claverhouse, his first regular novel and his 
last. To Claverhouse Watson gave much hard work. 
He was familiar with the history of the period, and it is 
admitted that his construction shows great skill. It is a 
serious and important work, though he himself was 
conscious that there was not enough dialogue in it, and 



174 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

that the plot was not skilfully handled. It was an in- 
dication, however, of what he might have done in new 
fields if his life had been spared. I shall have occasion 
to touch separately on the theological books he pub- 
lished under his own name. In addition to these he 
wrote many articles and stories in newspapers and 
magazines which have not been collected. 

The effect of the publication of The Bonnie Brier 
Bush on the manner of his life was very great. He be- 
came almost suddenly one of the best-known men in this 
country, and in America. His table was crowded every 
day by requests for his services — requests to which he 
responded with prodigal expenditure of energy. 

In 1896 Watson received the degree of Doctor of 
Divinity from the University of St. Andrews. Very 
shortly after the offer had been received. Professor 
Taylor wrote on behalf of his Alma Mater, the Univer- 
sity of Edinburgh, asking him whether he was pledged 
to receiA^e the degree from St. Andrews, or whether 
he was still open to receive it from his own Uni- 
versity. Watson felt bound to accept the degree 
first offered to him, but was much gratified to know that 
his Alma Mater desired to count him among her Doctors 
of Divinity. 

FROM PROFESSOR TAYLOR 

February 18th, 1896. 
Rev. and dear Sir, — It was reported to-day at a meet- 
ing of our D.D. Committee, that the University of St. 
Andrews had resolved to offer the degree of D.D. for your 
acceptance. 



" BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH " 175 

Our Committee have been agreed on your name for some 
little time back, but do not report to the Senators till the 
29th. 

In the circumstances I am instructed by the Committee 
to ascertain whether you are already pledged to receive the 
degree from St. Andrews, or whether you are still open to 
receive it from this University, in which latter case the 
Committee would nominate you to the Senators on the 29th. 

The Committee had quite counted on having you on 
their list, and had no idea that St. Andrews was likely to 
be beforehand. In any case it may gratify you to know 
that your old University desired to count you among her 
Doctors of Divinity. Kindly oblige by an early reply to 
say how you stand, and believe me, sincerely yours, 

M. C. Taylor, 
Dean Faculty Divinity. 

His first great journey was to America, where in 
1896 he undertook a great lecturing tour. This was 
an event so important in his life that a special chapter 
must be given to it. 



CHAPTER X 

FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 

The popularity of Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush and 
The Days of Auld Lang Syne made a great difference 
in Watson's position. He became well known to the 
British and the American public. His services as a 
speaker were demanded from all quarters. In 1896 he 
arranged with the well-known American lecture-man- 
ager, the late Major J. B. Pond, to make a tour in 
America. Mrs. Watson accompanied him, and the 
three months that followed were perhaps the busiest and 
most exciting of all his life. 

Lecturing has been dignified in America by such men 
as Emerson. Looking forward to his work on the plat- 
form, Emerson wrote to Carlyle : " I am always haunted 
with brave dreams of what might be accomplished in the 
lecture-room — so free and so unpretending a platform 
— a Delos not yet made fast. I imagine an eloquence 
of infinite variety, rich as conversation can be, with 
anecdote, joke, tragedy, epics and pindarics, argu- 
ment and confession." Emerson's own literary work is 
largely determined by the needs of the lecture. The 
lecture had to fill an hour and to be vivid, varied, pic- 
turesque and stimulating, or the audience would begin 
to tire before the end. It is told of Horace Greeley that 
once, travelling with Henry Ward Beecher, he passed a 

176 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 177 

country town and said : " I had once a successful lecture 
there." 

" What do you call a successful lecture? " 
" Why, more people stayed in than went out." 
Major Pond, a shrewd and practised observer, has 
given his impressions of Watson as he appeared at the 
beginning of his journey. "Dr. Watson is a tall, 
straight, square-shouldered, deep-chested man of middle 
age, with a large, compact, round, and well-balanced 
head, thinly thatched with brown and greyish hair, well- 
moulded refined features that bear the impress of kindly 
shrewdness, intellectual sagacity, and spiritual clear- 
ness, tempered, too, with a mingled sense of keen humour 
and grave dignity. The eyes are open, fine, and clear 
in expression, and thoughtful and observant to a con- 
trolling degree. Mr. Pond also comments on the alert- 
ness and force of Watson's movements. In his full 
vigour he often reminded me of Mr. Chamberlain in the 
keenness of his glance, his quickness, and his decisive 
energy. Mr. Pond's opinion of his oratorical powers is 
given thus : " His voice is excellent, because its tones 
express the feeling to be conveyed. It is skilfully used, 
with fine inflections and tonal shadings that give em- 
phasis and delicacy to his delivery. His mobile mouth 
easily lends itself to vocal changes. He is not an orator 
in the usual sense of the word, but he is a speaker who 
readily holds an audience to the last moment." 

Before commencing his work with Major Pond, Wat- 
son delivered at Yale University the Lyman Beecher 
course of lectures on Preaching. These discourses were 
afterwards published in a volume called The Cure of 



178 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

Souls. They contain much autobiographical matter 
sHghtlj disguised. Watson dehvered his lectures to the 
Yale students extempore, and delighted them with his 
humour, while he moved them b}^ his seriousness. Yale 
University, from which he received the degree of Doctor 
of Divinity, is one of the first Universities in America, 
and Watson was greatly impressed by its stately sur- 
roundings and by the ability and the courtesy of its 
professors. 

I have before me Major Pond's programme of Wat- 
son's lectures. It includes ninety-six engagements be- 
tween October 1 and December 16, 1896. The welcome 
of America was so generous, frank, and universal that 
to find a parallel men had to go back to the days of 
Charles Dickens. Pond, a man of unrivalled experience, 
said that he saw more happy faces while accompanying 
him than any other man was privileged to see in the 
same length of time. During every one of his ninety-six 
lectures Watson had as large audiences of men and 
women as could be crowded into the largest public halls 
in the principal cities of the United States and Canada. 
For the most part, he gave readings from his own books, 
but whether he gave readings or lectures the result was 
the same. 

At times the strain almost broke Mrs. Watson down, 
but she faced the ordeal bravely. As for Watson, he 
never seemed to flag. Hardships, delays, and difficulties 
were encountered with the utmost good nature. Be- 
tween the lecturer and his manager a strong affection 
grew up. Both had the constant exhilaration of un- 
varied success. It would be vain to attempt any de- 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 179 

tailed record of their experiences. Suffice it to say that 
everywhere Scotsmen greeted them with unrestrained 
enthusiasm. But others were equally cordial. From the 
public men of America, men like Mr. Cleveland, Mr. 
Carnegie, and Mr. Roosevelt — from the ministers of all 
denominations — from the leading men and women of 
letters, Watson had the most flattering tokens of good- 
will and admiration. The Presidential election was 
going on, and the contest between McKinley and Bryan 
was very keen, but this had no effect on the popularity 
of the lectures. Pond, however, thought it well to fill in 
the early portion of the tour in Canada, and he noticed 
the air of pride which Watson and his wife showed as 
soon as they knew they were in the Queen's dominions. 
They had a great reception in Canada. At Ottawa the 
lecture was delivered for a clergyman of the Anglican 
Church in the Knox Presbyterian Church. Sir Wilfrid 
Laurier, the Premier of Canada, who is a Roman 
Catholic, presided. The incident pleased Watson. 
" Isn't this a wonderful country ? Think of it ; I, a 
Scotch minister, have given readings for a clergyman of 
the Church of England, in a John Knox Presbyterian 
Church, introduced by a Roman Catholic ! " Watson 
had great pleasure in the blithe spirit of the West. He 
liked to think that in the great new country the boy 
nature predominates among the men to the end of their 
lives. 

At Oberlin, where Watson was the guest of the Col- 
lege Dean, the election returns had brought the news 
of a McKinley triumph, and the students' enthusiasm 
knew no bounds. They surrounded the house where Dr. 



180 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREX 

^Y:\tson was staying, built a number of bonfires, and re- 
mained there most of the night, shouting " What's the 
matter with :McKinlev? Ht\^ all right f' The day 
after the election when they reached Clevehmd, which is 
only seyen miles from McKinley's home, they fomid the 
whole population hoarse. The streets were coyereil with 
papers, old boxes t\nd barrel-hoop irons, ashes, and em- 
bers of bonfires, and hardly a soul was to be seen at ten 
o'clock in the morning. They were used up. In 
registering, Watson asked the clerk V)f the hotel, 
'"What's the matter with McKinley.^ '' and he got it 
good and strong: " Hr\^ all right! " Eyerybody in the 
room and in the yicinity shouted. 

At Pittsburg Watson was met by Andrew Carnegie, 
one of the warmest admirers of the Bomui- Brii-r Bush, 
one of liis staunchest friends to the last. He had two 
audiences of some three thousand people. 

At Philadelphia, at Washington, at Baltimore where 
he was the guest of President Oilman of Jolms Hopkins 
Uniyersity, and especially at Boston where he was the 
guest of Mrs. James T. Fields, Watson had oyerflowing 
audiences. The culmination of his success, howeyer, 
was the dinner giyen to him by the Lotos Club at New 
York before his departure. On that occasion Watson 
gaye an address which is worth reprinting as a de- 
liberate expression of his attitude to America. 

Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the Lotos Club: — 
Your President has referred to Bohemia, and has indicated 
that he thinks there will be struck up an alliance between 
Scotland and Bohemia — on first sight, one of the most 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 181 

unlikely alliances that ever could be consummated. The 
President no doubt has many things in his eye, and when 
we remember the careless garb of a Bohemian and the kilt 
of Scotland; when we remember a Bohemian's tendency 
to live, if he can, in a good-natured way upon his neigh- 
bours, and the tendency of my respected ancestors to take 
any cattle that they could see; and when also we remember 
that a Bohemian's sins are all atoned for by his love of 
letters, and that all the hardness and uncouthness of 
Scotland may well deserve to be passed over because no 
country has ever loved knowledge or scholarship more than 
Scotland — I declare the President is predicting a most 
harmonious marriage. 

Your kindness, gentlemen, is only crowning the great 
kindness which I have received during the past months — a 
kindness which I never expected, and a kindness which I 
am fully conscious I have never merited. Were I a lad of 
twenty-five, I declare it would be dangerous, for after the 
audiences that have been good enough to listen to me, and 
the favour I have received, also at the hands of the dis- 
tinguished men of letters, I declare, if I were twenty-five I 
might be confused about my position. But, gentlemen, 
when one receives as much kindness as one has in America, 
it doesn't — if you will excuse in this most cultured club 
an expression not quite within the range of literature — it 
doesn't swell one's head. But, gentlemen, it does some- 
thing better; it swells one's heart. 

Any man who has only entered the republic of letters 
within a few years, and who is fully conscious of his im- 
perfections and has never counted on attaining to any 
great standard of art, through his slowness in beginning and 
through the exigencies of his position, can yet obtain the 
favourable ear of the public simply because he deals with 



182 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

humanity. Humanity will add what is not possible to men 
richly endowed with the spirit of letters alone; it will add 
to such an accomplishment a grace that no recent recruit, 
no amateur writer, ever can. 

I am convinced, Mr. President, that if those men whom 
we look up to and who sit in high places, whose witchery of 
style and magnificent genius we all respect, could with- 
draw themselves from the study of certain mottoes which 
they believe are fantastic, and certain sides of humanity 
confined only to literary coteries and to great cities, the 
triumph they have won in the world of letters would be as 
nothing to the triumph they would win if, with all their 
genius, they laid their hand upon the heart of the common 
people. 

During these months it is impossible that one should 
travel to and fro without having formed impressions; and 
it is pleasant to go back with such entirely friendly and 
kindly impressions of the nation whose best thought and 
feeling are represented in this room. One thing that pro- 
foundly impressed me — I am speaking in perfect serious- 
ness — was the courtesy of your people. Without any ques- 
tion — and I am not saying this for the saying's sake — 
your people are the most courteous people one could meet, 
whether he be travelling on the road or engaged in ordinary 
intercourse. Courtesy may be tried by various standards, 
and possibly the highest form of courtesy is respect to 
women. I have never seen anywhere, and certainly not 
among continental nations, who rather boast of their cour- 
tesy in this direction — I have never seen such genuine, un- 
affected, and practical courtesy paid to the weaker and 
gentler sex as I have seen in America. 

Courtesy also can be tried by general agreeableness. 
During my tour — and owing to the arduous exercise of my 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 183 

friend. Major Pond, I have never stayed long in one place 
— I have travelled far and wide and haven't always been 
able to ride in parlour cars. I have, consequently, seen a 
great deal of people; but with the exception of one single 
person, and she was an immigrant, and, I have no doubt, a 
delightful woman, although somewhat indifferent as to her 
personal appearance, with the exception of that single 
individual, I have met no woman and no man in the cars 
with whom I would not be willing to sit in the same com- 
partment or the same seat of the car during a day's journey. 
That seems to me a remarkable thing, but it may seem to 
you nothing. To us, from an European standpoint, it 
means a great deal. It means the comfort of your people; 
it means the self-respect of your people; it means many 
things on which I congratulate you as a nation. 

And, sir, what has interested me deeply is that while 
jou are contending with the difficulties which fall to the 
lot, not only of a new and growing people, but of a nation 
into which is flowing the very refuse of Europe, there is 
throughout your people a great love of letters and of art. 
I have seen again and again in the houses of men who are, 
as they say in Europe, self-made, great evidence that their 
love is not set merely on the things that a man holds in his 
hand, but on the means of culture through which we see 
into the unseen and the beautiful. Some of the most lovely 
pictures which can possibly be obtained now are contained 
in the houses of those men. They do not have their pic- 
tures, gentlemen, merely as pieces of furniture, which they 
have bought for so much money, but the men who have 
them, as I can bear testimony, are men who can appreciate 
the beauty of those pictures and who are in no mean degree 
art critics. On the other side I have been assured that if 
a bookseller has a rare book, one of those lovely books 



184 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

that we all like to have, with a creamy and beautiful bind- 
ing like that of the past, and marked, perhaps, with a 
king's or a pope's arms, it is not in England that he finds 
a purchaser, but in America. And, Mr. President, I would 
congratulate you on the fact that to your high spirit and 
great enterprise you are also adding a love of the past, and 
especially that love of letters and art which is surely the 
height of perfection. 

I would only add, Mr. President, one other thing, and it 
is this, that while the good-will between the old country 
and yours can be maintained, and is going to be maintained, 
by honourable international agreement, we are encouraged 
to cherish the hope that the two nations will be bound more 
and more closely together, until at last the day comes when 
from Washington to London may go forth a voice on the 
great international question of righteousness that no nation 
will dare to pass by. While that can only be secured, and 
is being secured by the agreement of eminent statesmen, 
yet, surely, gentlemen, the coming and going of individuals 
treated kindly and hospitably after a most friendly fashion 
on this side, and I trust also treated after the same fashion 
on the other side, will weave together many bonds that will 
not only unite men of letters and men of grammars, but 
will also unite our two great nations with silken cords that 
can never be broken. 



During this journey Watson for the most part rested 
on Sundays, but on December 13th he preached his 
last public utterance in America in Plymouth Church. 
Thousands thronged the neighbouring thoroughfares, 
and the majority were unable to obtain admission. 
Watson thus took leave of his agent: — 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 185 

TO MAJOR POND 

Bee. 16, 1896. 

Dear Major Pond, — The day has come when we leave 
America and return home, and as I look back on our 
campaign, I am much impressed by the ability with 
which you conducted the operations from beginning 
to end, and your unfailing courage, good temper, and 
kindness. 

You will forgive me if at times I was depressed or irri- 
table. It is a Celt's infirmity; but I have never failed to 
note your care for our comfort and your sacrifices on our 
behalf. 

Accept with this note a little case for your expeditions, 
and as often as you use it — out with some greater star — 
give a thought to Drumtochty and its story-teller. 

Accept for Mrs. Pond and yourself this sincere assur- 
ance of our regard, and believe me ever, — Yours faithfully, 

John Watson. 



'November 22nd, 1896. 

Dear C, — Your kind and welcome note came without 
delay, not because I am famous, but because I am noto- 
rious. Such kindness no man can ever have received from 
a foreign public, and I have never deserved it. It does 
not swell my head, but I confess it swells my heart. And 
when my dear and faithful friends at home are pleased my 
heart grows fuller. 

We are wonderfully well and enjoying ourselves im- 
mensely, but we count the days till we stand on the deck of 
the Majestic. Oh to see the home again and you all. Our 
love to you in Princes Park. — Yours faithfully, 

John Watson. 
« 



1S6 LIFE OF L\X :NF\CLAREX 

The Major offered him the large sum of 24.000 dol- 
lars for twelve more weeks of lecturing. Watson firmly 
declined. He had promised his people to return, and his 
work at LiTerpool was awaiting him. But it is worth 
noting that neither he nor Pond ever doubted his abihtj 
to go through another twelve weeks of the strain. 

Among the many tokens of appreciation he received, 
none was more valued than this from the medical men 
of Boston: — 

yovemher ^6th, 1896. 

Deab Iax Maclarex. — It was the desire of many mem- 
bers of the medical profession in this city (Boston) that a 
more pretentious compliment (we conld not proffer a 
warmer one) should be extended to you during your stay 
in Boston in the shape of a reception and dinner. 

Having learned from Mrs. F.. however, that your time 
here is fully occupied and that your strength is taxed to a 
corresponding degree, we beg that you will accept these 
roses and the accompanying letter as a slight token of the 
warm place you occupy in our hearts, and as our high ap- 
preciation of your beautiful tribute to our profession in 
the " Doctor of the Old School." — Most cordially, your 
obedient servants. George Gay axd Clarence Blake. 

Immediately before leaving America Watson was 
presented with an address from the Brotherhood of 
Christian Unity in which he was thanked for doing " a 
work of unspeakable value in awakening and uniting the 
deepest sympathies of our common human nature. To 
this crreat blessing: vou have added another bv formulat- 
ing a Creed of Christian life which embodies the spirit 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 187 

and essence of Christ's teachings. The change of em- 
phasis from doctrine to hfe expresses a demand of the 
age and will give a new spirit and form to Christian 
civilisation. We accept your Life Creed not as a sub- 
stitute for the historic creeds, but as an interpretation 
of them." The Creed referred to in the address was as 
follows : — 

A LIFE CREED 

I believe in the Fatherhood of God. I believe in the 
words of Jesus. I believe in a clean heart. I believe in 
the service of love. I believe in the unworldly life. I 
believe in the beatitudes. I promise to trust God and fol- 
low Christ; to forgive my enemies, and to seek after the 
righteousness of God. 

Watson's whole heart went out to America. I ques- 
tion whether any visitor from the old country ever took 
more kindly to the great nation of the West. There 
was something in the atmosphere of America that was 
eminently congenial to him. He made some of his best 
friends among Americans ; he looked with unbounded 
hope to the future of the country ; he would have been 
more than content to spend his days there as a private 
indi^-idual, though he thought himself too old to take 
pubhc office and begin a new career. He had two more 
visits to pay to America, and it was in America that he 
died. 

To the problems of civilisation and Christianity in the 
West he gave close and continued study. He considered 
that there was an American type of character — a 



188 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

native-born American representative of a great, a com- 
ing, a fruitful, and a successful race. The most won- 
derful thing about the American nation seemed to him 
its almost miraculous power of assimilation. If amongst 
those stirring and bustling people an Irishman, a Scan- 
dinavian, a Polish Jew, or an Italian was drafted in, 
there would be the beginning of a change in him, and in 
one half of those cases the child would be an American, 
while in the case of the other half the grandchild would 
be an actual American. This stock drew in, changed, 
and made its own that enormous mass of population 
that from year to year was flung upon its shores. The 
American influence was in general reforming and 
deodorising. People went over to America often very 
low in the social scale, and by and by they were fairly 
good citizens, while their children were excellent citizens. 
There was the power of the salt of the sea in the nation 
which would take into it the refuse of a city, and purify 
it, and leave the sea as fresh as ever. Then again the 
Americans were a patriotic people. The Republic was 
twice baptised in the blood of its best citizens. He 
thought that the victory of McKinley over Bryan was 
decided by a genuine feeling of patriotism that rose 
throughout the American nation. While the election 
seemed to be fought on bi-metallism there was another 
question behind it, and that was : Could a State maintain 
its honourable position that proposed to pay its debts 
with 57 cents for a dollar.? When the country realised 
that the victory of Mr. Bryan's party would mean the 
affirmation of a principle that would end in the repudia- 
tion of duty, there was no doubt about the result of the 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 189 

election. Over the whole country men forsook their 
party, and men who had no party gave themselves im- 
mense trouble in order to vindicate the honour of the 
nation, and in that they proved their patriotism. 

Another opinion he held was that an educated Amer- 
ican was the most courteous of men. There was a mix- 
ture of cordiality and simplicity among the best of 
Americans which was to be found nowhere else. The 
American woman added to the severe good taste of an 
Englishwoman a certain grace, and redeemed the clever- 
ness of the Parisian from the suspicion of trickery. 
" Blood and climate have united to produce a felicitous 
result, where the gravity and dignity of the Anglo- 
Saxon have been relieved by a certain brightness of 
spirit and lightness of touch which would be out of 
place, and might be even offensive in rain and fog." 

The courtesy of American editors, their warm ap- 
preciation of what they accepted, and their politeness 
in assigning reasons for refusal, their quite marked 
graciousness of manner were an example to the whole 
world. Among the younger University men in Yale 
and Harvard he found an easy and agreeable bearing 
with just the proper flavour of deference to superiors. 
Above all, Americans stood nobly the real test of good 
manners which is a man's bearing to women. On this he 
never ceased to dwell. " From end to end of America a 
woman is respected, protected, served, honoured. If she 
enters an elevator every man uncovers; in a street car 
she is never allowed to stand if a man can give her a 
seat; on the railways conductors, porters, and every 
other kind of official hasten to wait on her; any man 



190 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

daring to annoy a woman would come to grief." This 
miglit seem to be exaggerated, and yet it was well for a 
strong and restless people to be possessed with noble 
ideas of women, and from the poorest to the highest 
man to be engaged and sworn unto her service. The 
woman cult in the States is in itself a civilisation and 
next door to a religion. 

Of the lavish and considerate hospitality of America 
he had naturally much to say. What counted dearest 
in it all was the genuine kindness behind it. " The 
Americans are a kind people, and they are not ashamed 
to allow it to be seen." Few things irritated Watson 
more than the manner in which English visitors some- 
times requited American generosity. 

When an Englishman who has been treated like a royal 
personage, and never allowed to live a day in a hotel, finds 
it in his heart to write disparagingly of his hosts, it is bet- 
ter that what he writes should not be published. And if a 
learned and eminent person should be most warmly re- 
ceived in congenial circles, and should so disregard the 
usages of society that he was declared to have carried 
himself " like a Saxon swineherd before the Norman Con- 
quest," and to have secured for himself the undisputed 
possession of one house, his host and hostess having finally 
despaired and fled, then it might have been better for that 
distinguished man and for his native land if he had re- 
mained at home. It is right, however, to add that such 
primeval manners were original rather than national, and 
did not endear him to every heart even in England. One 
must sadly admit the fact that Englishmen are not greatly 
admired or ardently loved by the American nation^ but the 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 191 

reason is not always realised. It is not the amazing folly 
of our Government in the War of Independence, nor the 
unfortunate conflict of 1812, nor even the avowed sym- 
pathy of English society with the South in the Civil War, 
although all those mistakes have left a heritage of bitter- 
ness. What irritates Americans quite as much as any of 
our family quarrels, so it seems to one visitor, is the at- 
titude of the individual Englishman. He is supposed — 
with some measure of truth -certainly — to be unsympathetic 
and critical, or fearfully condescending and patronising — 
in fact, to sniff his way through the States. Very likely 
the poor man is simple dazed by the noise and whirl of life 
in that electrical atmosphere, or is laying himself out to 
please. It does not, of course, show much tact to advise 
an American woman who was meditating a visit to Scotland 
to read Sir Walter Scott — whom a good American knows 
from Waverley to Count Robert of Paris — but it was not 
really meant for an insult, and when an Englishwoman 
congratulated an American on speaking without a twang 
she intended to pay a compliment, and it was unnecessarily 
cruel to congratulate her in return on not dropping her 
" h's." Our hand (and our humour) is heavy, and a 
people ought not to be judged by insular gaucheriej it may 
conceal a true heart. What is sorely needed is more going 
to and fro between the countries — English going West as 
well as Americans coming East — and more friendships 
between individuals and more understanding one of the 
other. It ought to be laid to heart by every visitor to the 
States that he is travelling among a bright, emotional, 
kind-hearted, sensitive people, and it might be useful for 
his clever hosts to remember that their guest belongs to the 
same stock, where it is quite honest and grateful, but proud 
and shy, and where it has no nerves. 



10^2 LIFE OF I AX MACLAREN 

The vastness of America was another impression 
wliich constantly deepened. Between the islander in his 
trim little home and the American in his immense domain 
there was necessarily a very considerable difference. A 
strain of bigness ran through the American and all his 
ways, which was on some sides very invigorating, but 
perhaps not always unattended by the defects of a re- 
fresliing quality. 

Watson saw that in America life was wide and buoy- 
ant and full of \-icissitudes. A man micvht have nothins: 
to-day and be rich to-morrow : he might be rich one day 
and poor the next. The tides ran in and out with 
immense velocitv, and the scene was ever chanffins:. 
Again, in a large unclaimed country, men got a spirit of 
enterprise so fearless and ambitious that it amazed an 
old country man. Enterprise comes with room — dar- 
ing, ambition, willingness to run risks, and quickness of 
mind. Where the individual has his chance on his own 
merits, hfe is hke the Arabian Xights in sudden and 
astonisliing transformations. A hand labourer may be- 
come president of a railroad, a clerk may become a mil- 
lionaire, a small farmer become a President. 

The unfinishedness of America struck him, and often 
with dehght. The vivid contrasts, the luxuriant abun- 
dance, the unrestrained originahty, the untouched re- 
sources, the easy independence of the New World were 
in happy contrast to the ancient order. " One has a 
piquant sense of freshness in a country where nature 
breaks in upon civilisation, and the simple ways of the 
past assert themselves beside the last results of modern 
invention." 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 193 

He was not blind to signs of danger in the West. 
The darkest of these he judged to be the restriction of 
population, and of this he wrote fully and f rankl3\ He 
thought also that there was a certain extravagance in 
America, though he was willing to plead that he might 
be subtly influenced by his thrifty Scots blood. 

We can only stand aside and wonder at our kinsman who 
gets his money so easily, who holds it so lightly, who 
spends it so lavishly, a man of a very princely habit, and 
far removed above thought of saving. And yet it may be 
allowed us to shake our heads and have some misgivings as 
to whether this prodigality is for the good of individual 
character and the upbuilding of a people. Is the ostenta- 
tious waste of food in hotels wholesome or justifiable, 
where the menu is bewildering in variety, and the portions 
supplied beyond all necessity, and more is taken away than 
is used? Does it conduce to stability and self-restraint to 
be quite indifferent about to-morrow, and to reserve noth- 
ing of to-day's earnings.'' Have not the farmers traded 
recklessly on the virgin resources of the land.'* Have not 
the forests been improvidently cut down? Is there not 
everywhere a certain want of prudence and management 
which cannot in the long run minister to moral strength or 
even to material wealth? If it be true as is contended, 
that every great empire has been built up on thrift, this 
means that the homeliest of virtues does not end in the 
accumulation of money, but results in the creation of man- 
hood. And the best friends of America therefore desire 
that amid all her prosperity, she should not fall away into 
wasting and luxury, but ever retain and cultivate that habit 
of simple and severe living which was shown by her 
Puritan forefathers. 



194. LIFE OF lAX :\IACLAREN 

Another danger he saw in the marked abstinence from 
pontics, general and municipal, of the leisured and cul- 
tured classes in the State. They would bestir them- 
selves and take part in any great crisis, but in or- 
dinary circumstances they looked out on the public hfe 
through the loopholes of retreat. They refused to touch 
public service with their finger-tips, and so left it too 
largely to place-hunters, wire-pullers, and professional 
pohticians, with results that might not be corrupt as 
some candid critics alleged, but were at least less than 
ideal. " The patriotic spirit in America, and far too 
much in other places also, seems to exercise itself over 
great crises, foreign or domestic, and to be indifi'erent to 
the conduct of ordinary affairs. The worst feature in 
American poHtics is the " boss,' who is the power behind 
the throne, and of whom no one savs anv cpood thinor." 

Watson had much to say about the humours of the 
campaign, but I have room for one story only. At the 
very start Major Pond made his one mistake. He has 
given his version of the affair in his book, Eccentricities 
of Genius, and I may supplement it from Watson's own 
tale. The friends were going to New Haven, and 
when the train began to slow the Major sprang to his 
feet. 

'• Guess," said he, " we'd better hurry, or else we'll be 
carried on to New York " ; so Watson, his wife, and the 
Major left the cars in haste, and the train, the last train 
of that day, went on its way. 

"Where is our carriage.^" demanded the Major, 
standing outside the station with the " stars " behind 
him. *' What carriacre? The carriage ordered to be 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 195 

here for Major Pond and his ' star.' That car-man is 
a back number. He's not on time and the contract's 
broke. Get me another carriage," he said to the rail- 
way man. 

" Can't get one now, Major. Too late. All off for 
the night." 

" Do you give me to understand, young man," and 
the Major spoke with awful impressiveness in the dark- 
ness lit by a single lamp, " that the University city of 
New Haven cannot supply a covered conveyance with 
two horses for an American gentleman in public life 
and a distinguished visitor? You are not worthy of 
your privileges as a citizen of this cultured com- 
munity." 

"New Haven, Major, was that what you said.'' 
Why, this ain't New Haven." 

" Not New Haven.'' " and the words fell syllable by 
syllable from the Major's lips. " May I inquire the 
name of this settlement? " 

" Call it MaryviUe, Major," and it was plain the rail- 
way man would have boasted had he not been afraid. 
" Can't get to New Haven to-night." 

" Maryville! " and the Major fixed the presumptuous 
porter with a gaze so fearsome that the man slunk into 
the darkness with a muttered apology for the existence 
of the place, and the Major stiU looked at the spot where 
the man had been consumed. After a full minute of 
profound silence, during which the " stars " were silent 
and motionless, the Major wheeled round and led the 
procession through the booking-office and along the 
platform to the extremity. When he could go no 



196 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

further he stood again for a space communing with 
himself, and then he turned, and this is what he said : 

" Maryville ! No ! It never happened before, and if 
it happened twice the pubhc career of J. B. Pond would 
be closed. Mar^^ville ! " 

He led the way to a very respectable hotel. 

" Can this hotel," inquired the Major, still speaking 
with an accent of chastened humility, " supply two 
foreigners who have lost their way with accommodation 
for the night ? " As for himself, the suggestion was he 
would sleep on the street. He departed, refusing to be 
comforted, turning at the door, and saying " Mary- 
viUe." 

Next morning he reported that he had slept little, 
but had gathered his past " stars " round his bedside 
and imagined what they would have done if he had 
landed them in such circumstances at INIaryville. It 
all ended well. 

" No," said the Major, " I am not sorry that this has 
happened once, for it has let me know what kind of 
people I have got to deal with. Brought them, two 
helpless and confiding strangers, to Maryville at 11.15 
on a dark night, and put them up there for the night 
without a toothbrush or a hairpin, and what did they 
say.P Not one bad word either from the one or the 
other. Spoke to me like a parson in a case of personal 
bereavement. Comforted J. B. Pond in his first pro- 
fessional mistake, and they had been only a fortnight in 
the United States. What did they do.? Pretended it 
was a picnic and said they were enjoying themselves, 
and appeared next morning as prettily dressed as if 



FIRST TOUR IN AMERICA 197 

they had had two Saratoga trunks. Wanted to look 
after J. B. Pond and see that he had taken his natural 
sleep. This is Christianity," the Major concluded with 
enthusiasm, declaring afterwards that he knew from 
that moment the tour was going to be a pronounced 
success. 

In this connection I may tell a story a little out of its 
proper place. Among Pond's numerous clients was 
Matthew Arnold. Arnold was no great lecturer. He 
puzzled the Major very much. He gave a hundred 
lectures in America, and nobody ever heard any of 
them, not even those sitting in the front row. The 
Major did his best to induce Arnold to take lessons in 
elocution, but to little purpose. Arnold went through 
his task cheerfully, but said nothing to his agent when 
he received his fees. This the Major somewhat resented, 
and as a practical man he looked upon the whole per- 
formance as ridiculous. He would have valued a kind 
word from Arnold in the trying circumstances. But on 
a later visit to America, Ian Maclaren was the guest of 
a lady who had been Arnold's hostess. She told him 
that when Arnold came into her house after a dispiriting 
night some one had expressed sympathy with him in hav- 
ing to put up with the company of so vulgar a person 
as Major Pond. Arnold drew himself up. " Major 
Pond," he said, " and I have not been brought up in the 
same way, and our tastes are somewhat different, but I 
have always found him a very kind man and strictly 
honourable." 



CHAPTER XI 

WORK IX LIVERPOOL 

Watson returned to Liverpool, and was welcomed by 
his congregation on Christmas Eve, 1896. He took up 
his pastoral duties with renewed energy. He told his 
people that three months could not blot out the memory 
of aU that he had received from them. It was his 
prayer that he might be their faithful and loving minis- 
ter in days and years to come. 

The prayer was answered, but the course of Watson's 
life was materially affected. His reputation was now 
international. Crowds of Americans visited his church 
every Sunday: he was constantly pressed to deliver 
lectures and sermons all over the country. He was also 
" much exposed to editors," and all demands made upon 
him were answered to the best of his power. The work 
done at Sefton Park was never diminished. He was not 
often absent from his pulpit on Sundays, and his week- 
night services were faithfully kept up. Nor were his 
pastoral -vdsits diminished. He continued faithfully to 
seek out the members of his flock. He had always the 
greatest sympathy with domestic servants, and as mem- 
bers of his congregation they each received a visit. 
Very often Watson would be seated in the kitchen and 
the mistress of the house would never know that the 
famous preacher was giving consolation and advice to 
her maid. A hostess once said, *' I had never any idea 

198 



WORK IN LIVERPOOL 199 

my waitress was in trouble until I heard quite by ac- 
cident Dr. Watson inquiring after her mother, who, I 
learned, was seriously ill." But in addition to all this 
work he had henceforth at least two sermons or lectures 
in other towns during the week, and often double the 
number. He had long railway journeys and exhausting 
social engagements. It was a puzzle to his friends that 
he should devote so much of his time and energy to this 
way of living, but there is no doubt that he liked it. He 
enjoyed the change of scene; he was glad to make new 
friends and to have friendly human intercourse with 
them. The applause and good-will of enthusiastic 
audiences cheered him, and wherever he went he drew 
crowds, and he knew that he had opportunities of help- 
ing ministers and giving an impulse to congregations. 
He made himself at home very easily wherever he went, 
and strangers very often became friends. Thus his Hfe, 
with a few interruptions, went on for more than ten 
years. For Watson it was a life full of sunshine, 
though clouded at times by the effects of overstrain. 
That it overstrained him was often very evident, but he 
recuperated quickly. It was certainly injurious to his 
literary work. Much of this had now to be done in 
trains and in such brief intervals of leisure as he could 
command. The main portion of his leisure was strictly 
dedicated to his work for the pulpit. 

Watson found on his return from America that he 
was the object of a heresy hunt. It was never a serious 
affair, but I refer to it because it gives an opportunity 
for referring to his theological books. Of these the first 
appeared about the same time as the Bonnie Brier Bushy 



200 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

and under his own name. It was entitled The Mind of 
the Master, and was followed by The Life of the Master, 
The Doctrines of Grace, and several smaller volumes of a 
practical and devotional kind. These represented the 
main elements of Watson's preaching, and the conclu- 
sions to which he had fought his way after searching 
inquiry. The mere titles of the books are enough to 
show the direction in which his mind turned. Christ 
was to him the centre of theology and preaching. He 
held that the older Presbyterian theology had done small 
justice to the humanity of our Lord, and that it had 
ceased to be useful in so far as it was not inspired by the 
Spirit of Christ. But he held firmly to the Catholic 
doctrine of the deity of Christ, to the Incarnation, and 
to the Atoning Sacrifice. 

Some of his friendliest critics held that there were 
certain contradictions in The Mind of the Master. 
They were not backward in paying tribute to its literary 
power and beauty, and to its profound and constant 
sense of the incomparableness of Jesus. But they com- 
plained that Watson disparaged the Apostles as when 
he wrote, " St. Paul has touched excellently in various 
letters on the work of the Holy Spirit, and his words 
have fed many; but all the words that ever came from 
that inspired man are not to be compared with the 
promise of the Comforter given in the upper room." 
They also compared phrases like " It must be remem- 
bered that Jesus had moods, and that He sometimes lost 
heart." They thought that theologians and the Church 
were unduly disparaged. It was the general opinion, 
however, that the book was to be welcomed for the em- 



WORK IN LIVERPOOL 201 

pliasis it laid on the authority of our Lord's teaching, 
and for its brilHant and suggestive exposition of the 
Gospels. The few ministers who took action complained 
that Watson leaned to Unitarianism. He himself did 
not attach great importance to the matter, though he 
was slightly perturbed. He held his peace till the prose- 
cution, if it may be so called, had ceased, and then he 
made an explanation and modified a few sentences. He 
said that there were two grounds where he found himself 
in agreement with his critics : " One is the style, which 
once or twice has been unchastened, and from which cer- 
tain expressions, which to certain minds suggested 
irreverence, will be removed. And the other is the 
apparent denial that the sacrifice of Jesus, besides being 
an ethical power, had also a vicarious virtue, which were 
to ignore the deeper reference of certain of the Master's 
most solemn utterances. He were indeed a foolish and 
heady writer who did not learn something from critics 
who have been candid in their disapproval, but also 
generous in their appreciation." On the distinction 
which he drew between the Gospels and the Epistles Wat- 
son stood firm. 

Before any one can claim an absolute spiritual identity 
between the utterances of Jesus and His Apostles, he must 
hold not only that they were penmen, but that they were 
simply pens in the hand of a Divine Power. And this 
conclusion no reasonable person could accept. Besides it 
is fair to ask this question: Even on any theory of inspira- 
tion, however rigid or extreme, could the Holy Ghost con- 
vey the same revelation as regards depth and clearness 
through a man, however faithful and holy, as through the 



202 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

Son of God? This is not a question of the player, if one 
may use this figure, but of the instrument: and if truth 
has to pass through a medium, then there must be some 
difference between the very mind of Jesus and the mind 
of Jesus as possessed and assimilated by St. Paul. This 
argument really goes back to the doctrine one holds of 
Jesus' person, and presupposes His deity. It appears to 
me, although others who as firmly hold the same doctrine 
do not agree with me, that His deity invests His own words 
with a solitary authority. 

Perhaps in the last issue the question must be settled by 
a reference to fact. There may be some who can find 
limitations in the words of Jesus. I do not envy such 
men. I hope that I may never be found in their number. 
When it comes to pass that we localise Jesus, it will not be 
possible to believe Him Son of God. Many must find 
limitations in St. Paul, with all his greatness — limitations 
of style and thought, inseparable from his nature and 
education. We miss in the Epistles the majesty of utter- 
ance, the note of universality, the elevation above every 
local condition, the revelation of God as of one looking on 
the face of the Father. The Epistles are surely the holy 
place, but the Gospels are the holiest of all, where is seen 
the very glory of God. 

It may be added that the case came up at the meeting 
of the Presbyterian Synod in Sunderland as a petition 
from eleven ministers and twenty-four elders asking for 
an investigation of Dr. Watson's writings, but making 
no definite assertion of heresy. The Synod almost 
unanimously refused to receive the request, and so the 
matter ended. Shortly after Dr. Watson was called to 
St. John's Presbyterian Church, Kensington, London. 



WORK IN LIVERPOOL g03 

At first he thought that the change might benefit him- 
self and his congregation, but he was soon made to feel 
that his place was in Liverpool. " As I began to realise 
the strength of the bonds which united us and the pos- 
sibility that my work here in church and city may not 
yet be done — that the desire for change may be partly 
selfish, and be really a longing for relief, that it might 
be hard to secure one who would unite you all together 
as we have lived — it seemed to me at last that it could 
not be God's will that I should leave, and that in going 
my heart should be half-broken." After that he dis- 
couraged all invitations to other spheres, resolving that 
he would remain in Liverpool so long as he continued in 
the active pastorate. 

I give some letters written to Mrs. Stephen William- 
son at this time: — 

TO MRS. STEPHEN WILLIAMSON 

January 1 5th, 1898. 

Dear Mrs. W., — We go to Cannes and shall there be 
guests with the Carnegies, who are to have a yacht in 
readiness. Then we ramble to Mentone^ San Remo, and 
then home from our furthest point within ten weeks. 

If I could get an interview with Mr. Gladstone I should 
be lifted. It would be a treasure to remember and might 
— (if in good taste) — be bread to the penniless. 

TO THE SAME 

August 27th, 1898. 
I hereby certify that I have examined Mr. Maclaren, 
and find that he is suffering from slight tendency to 



204 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

obesity, that he is apt to go sleepy about 1 1 p.m., and that 
the drowsiness has not always departed at 7 a.m., and that 
his appetite is about normal. I take a favourable view of 
the case, and believe that by a course of mild mountain 
ascents Mr. Maclaren's health may be restored. 

John Watson, M.D. F.R.C.P. 



TO THE SAME 

November Qthj 1898. 

Dear Mrs. Williamson, — You will receive in a day or 
two an early copy of Rabbi Sanderson, which you allowed 
me to dedicate to you. 

It is a " bit " from Kate Carnegie, and I hope you like 
the old scholar. 

Have three new stories — bags made in Scotland. — Yours 
affectionately, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

December 8th, 1898. 

Dear Mrs. Williamson, — It gave me regret, " of 
course " (as they always say in Scotland), that I could 
not be one of your suite, walking with Mrs. Tom, chief 
lady in waiting at the function, but I had meetings all day. 
The Laird would tell you how we were occupied, wander- 
ing from meeting to meeting like bees from flower to flower, 
listening to one another with greedy delight. But, as you 
know, " of course," both of us would be ready any time to 
hear you. 

Glad you like my Collector; Wallace (Glasgow Herald), 
in an article in the Bookman, speaks highly of it too, and 
forms his careful and discriminating view with a sentence 



WORK IN LIVERPOOL 205 

so encouraging regarding my " mastery " of the " short 
story " that I dare not quote it. — Yours to command, 

John James M'Jinks. 



TO THE SAME 

June 6th, 1899. 

Dear Mrs. Williamson, — Allow me to say that I have 
been thinking of you with more than ordinary friendship 
during three days. 

Your mother was one whom even a stranger began to 
love at once, for her spirit and goodness and not least as a 
beautiful type of Scots womanhood. Round her gathered 
the interest of her husband's name, but to you Mrs. Guthrie 
would be associated with the sacred ties and memories of 
home. 

Where the old home is closed it seems as if the past had 
faded and disappeared, and the future presses upon one's 
soul. Let us thank God for the good hope. — ^With kindest 
regards, your affectionate friend, John Watson. 

Very few letters survive from the correspondence be- 
tween Dr. Watson and Professor Drummond. When 
Watson was in America Drummond was suffering from 
his last illness. There follow one letter written to Drum- 
mond just before he died, and two letters to Drum- 
mond's mother: — 

TO PROFESSOR HENRY DRUMMOND 

February 3rd, 1897. 
Dear Henry, — Since coming home I have been minded 
to write you, but have had no time. A letter from Lady 



206 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

Aberdeen received this morning in which she alludes to 
you, has given me decision. 

We had a very pleasant tour in the United States, and 
received no end of kindness. My connection with you 
helped me, and George had gone before and blasted the 
way. 

I saw the Eastern and Middle West States, and had a 
run through Canada. Some day I hope to see the far 
West. Wherever I went the people seemed bright, shrewd, 
and pushing, and to a stranger most courteous. Their feel- 
ings to our country I judge to be most cordial, but then 
they are much influenced by fits of patriotic feeling, and by 
the tricks of politicians. 

How has it been with you, are you making some progress 
to recovery .f* I told all who asked that you were going to 
get better bit by bit, and you must pay your instalments as 
I pledged my word. 

If there is any one with you who can drop me a line, I 
should be grateful. 

If I can get a day in end of March, I'll come with my 
report of America: Meanwhile we unite in love to you, 
and I am, your faithful friend, John Watson. 

TO MRS. DRUMMOND 

March 14>th, 1897. 

My dear Mrs. Drummond, — Yesterday I received 
intelligence of the place and hour of my friend's funeral, 
and it gives me poignant grief that it is out of my power 
to be present. 

On Monday evening I have for some time been engaged 
to lecture at Birmingham, and the time renders it impossi- 
ble to get relief. 



WORK IN LIVERPOOL 207 

I shall be with you in spirit, as the earthly remains of 
your noble son, and my friend of boyhood, are carried 
along the road I know so well, but of all men to me it 
seems easiest to think of him as alive for evermore. 

With profound respect, and our heartfelt sorrow, believe 
me, yours very faithfully, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

June 8th, 1897. 

My dear Mrs, Drummond, — You cannot imagine how 
much touched I was to-day when the links came, and how 
soft my heart is as I look at them on my desk. 

I shall value them deeply for Henry's sake, and altho* 
I do not wear gold, and have lately laid aside a mourning 
ring in memory of my father and mother, yet from time to 
time I will use the gift that belonged to my friend. 

I am pleased that you liked the article: It was not a 
eulogium, it was plain guarded truth, it was Henry as I 
knew him from my boyhood. 

I hope you are being comforted, and that God is nearer 
than ever. Now may I ask a favour for Henry's sake, that 
you never again call me Dr. or Mr. but John, as once you 
did in years past. There are few of early days to say the 
word, will you grant me this? We unite together in warm 
regard for you and yours, and I remain, yours affectionately, 

John Watson. 



CHAPTER XII 
SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 

Dr. Watson was induced by Major Pond to make a 
second American lecture tour which began on February 
19, 1899, and terminated on May 10th. Lectures were 
deHvered in New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Louis- 
ville, and Chicago, but for the most part new ground 
was occupied. Watson travelled through California 
lecturing at San Francisco, Monterey, San Jose, Fresno, 
Los Angeles, and other cities. He closed his tour at 
Minneapolis. He had the old welcome everywhere, and 
in general very large crowds. During his journey out 
the Teutonic passed through a hurricane : — 

It was an awful, a majestic spectacle, such as one is 
never likely to see again, and certainly does not desire to 
see. The wind blew from three different quarters in turn, 
and the waves were about forty-five feet high. At their 
base and in the trough they were black; midway upwards 
they were a very dark green; towards the crest the dark 
green brightened into emerald, and the waves were crowned 
with clouds of white foam, through which once and again 
the sunlight broke. As a wave of this size and beauty 
approached the vessel one felt that it was certain to cover 
it from stem to stern. If it had, such a wave would have 
broken in the whaleback deck at the bow, have swept away 
the boats, possibly might have carried away the officers' 
quarters forward, and even have destroyed the bridge. As 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 209 

it was, the vessel lifted on the approach of the wave, and 
rose like a seabird on the billows till at last her bow passed 
through the crest of the wave, while the streams of emerald 
poured along the side of the vessel, and the white spray- 
was driven by the wind over the bridge and above the fun- 
nels. Now and again the crest of a wave would strike upon 
the beam, flooding the deck with water and making the ship 
quiver from end to end. 

Such was the excellent management of the captain 
that during the whole voyage the vessel did not receive 
the slightest damage, and no person on board — neither 
seaman nor passenger — was hurt. Of course there were 
incidents in such a voyage, and it was not wonderful 
that when a bottle of water emptied itself upon the face 
of a sleeping passenger in the middle of the night, and 
he heard at the same time the crash of a huge wave upon 
the side of the steamer, he should feel that it was time to 
make an effort for his life. It is interesting to know 
what a man does in these circumstances, and this par- 
ticular passenger rushed up the companion, equipped 
besides his night things with a life-saving apparatus, 
which he found in his cabin, and a pair of boots. What 
he was to do with the boots, and where they could be of 
any particular service in that emergency, he had not 
stopped to consider ; " but it was not more foolish than 
the action of another passenger in a like emergency, 
whose provision besides a life-belt, and that was every- 
thing else that he had, was a tall hat." As the pas- 
sengers came up the river they saw with great regret 
the Germanic sunk at her dock through an accident with 
only her funnels above the water. In New York it was 



210 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

a blizzard, and the streets were piled high with banks of 
snow. 

I do not propose to give an}^ detailed account of this 
journey. Happily some of his own letters are available. 
They are addressed to liis Sef ton Park congregation : — 

Netv York, February 9,\si, 1899- 
Dear Friends, — Friends were waiting at New York to 
receive us, and we are again established in our quiet, com- 
modious room in the old-fashioned Everett House, which 
to our mind is most preferable to the up-town hotels with 
their small rooms and endless bustle and show and fashion. 
Here, at least, one can have peace even in the midst of busy 
New York, and in this hotel many Englishmen have stayed 
in turn, from Mr. Matthew Arnold in the past to Mr. 
Anthony Hope yesterday. Many friends called upon us to 
congratulate us upon our safety, and to bid us welcome 
after the Atlantic, and on Saturday we left for New Haven, 
the seat of the University of Yale. Prof. Fisher, our 
former host at Yale, was standing on the platform when we 
arrived, and gave us the kindest of receptions. He is a 
typical don, so scholarly, so witty, so gentle, and it is a 
privilege to live in his house, where one breathes humanity 
in the old Latin sense, and is brought into contact at every 
turn of the conversation with the wisdom both of the 
present and past. Beneath his roof one meets all kinds of 
scholars, and every one seems at his best, so that one has 
the benefit of a University in the form of social intercourse. 
Yale reminds one of an English University, because its 
buildings are scattered here and there, and some of them 
are now nearly two hundred years old, and because the 
scholars at Yale have the old-fashioned love of accurate and 
delicate culture^ and are altogether cleansed from showi- 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 211 

ness and Philistinism. Upon Sunday morning we went to 
the University Chapel, where I preached before the Presi- 
dent and Professors, and where I preached, which is a dif- 
ferent thing, to fifteen hundred students of the Universities. 
One looked upon a mass of humanity in the bright and 
intelligent faces, and was inspired with the thought of the 
possibilities in those lads who would be the clergymen and 
lawyers and statesmen and great merchants of the United 
States. If they are interested the " boys " have no hesita- 
tion in letting the preacher know, and have endless ways of 
conveying their weariness. For my subject I took " Jesus' 
Eulogy on John the Baptist," and made a plea for selfless- 
ness as the condition of good work and high character. In 
the evening I spoke to about five hundred students in the 
beautiful hall of the University Christian Association. 
This time I took for my subject " Faith and Works," and 
afterwards met a number of men who were exceedingly 
kind, and, as is characteristic of American University men, 
very gracious and courteous. During my stay with Dean 
Fisher I had the opportunity of conversation with several 
distinguished Biblical scholars whose names and whose 
books are known on both sides of the Atlantic, and to a 
general practitioner like myself this intercourse with ex- 
perts was most instructive and stimulating. 

Yesterday we returned to New York, where we are 
spending a few days doing nothing except seeing friends 
and receiving callers, and generally resting and enjoying 
ourselves. To-morrow evening I shall have the pleasure of 
dining with Mr. Rudyard Kipling, and on Thursday even- 
ing with a number of the leading clergy of our own Com- 
munion, and others. In the end of the week we go to 
Philadelphia, to a large Presbyterian meeting, and after- 
wards to Boston. These visits we make to knit up old ties 



212 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

and to visit our former friends^ and when they are over we 
shall start for the West. While in New York we hope to 
see our old friends of Sefton Park, the Abbotts and the 
Gernons, as well as some young men belonging to the home 
Church. — Believe me^ your faithful minister, 

John Watson. 

Washington^ B.C., March 9</i,1899. 
Dear Friends, — Since my last letter I have revisited 
that most English of all American cities, Philadelphia, and 
have seen many friends I made on my former visit, I 
lectured once in the Academy of Music to an inspiring 
audience, and I preached in a suburban church once; but 
the main purpose of my visit was to meet with my brethren 
of our Church in the city of " brotherly love." I spoke 
on a theological subject at their conference, but really 
gave them the substance of my sermon on the " Grace of 
God," preached at home; so you see that what suits Sefton 
Park suits Theological Clubs. The club agreed also with 
the home Church that I was a most orthodox man. I re- 
gret, indeed, to say, that a recent heresy case in the Presby- 
terian Church of England was looked on here as a farce, 
and afforded much amusement. I was guest of the Presby- 
terian Union at a banquet to which three hundred ladies 
and gentlemen sat down. This is a society of laymen, 
which exists for social intercourse, and I gave, after dinner, 
some account of the religious situation in England. It ap- 
pears that there is also an extreme ritualistic wing in the 
American Episcopal Church, and one rector assured me 
that some of its members were practically Romans in all 
except their obedience to the Pope. There is, however, in 
the American Church what no longer exists in the Church 
of England, a strong and numerous Broad Church party. 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 213 

This party has its home at Harvard, and has owed much 
to Phillips Brooks and Professor Allen, of Cambridge, and 
gives a position of intellectual dignity to its Church. 

We have seen Boston, and have again been the guests of 
Mrs. Fields, whose husband was the justly famous pub- 
lisher, and himself a man of letters. This home was the 
haunt of the Boston set — Emerson, Longfellow, Lowell, 
and the dear " Autocrat," and many are the stories one 
heard of them. Our own chief writers had also pleasant 
relations with this house, and one heard much at first hand 
of Dickens and Thackeray and Matthew Arnold. Every 
third book in the library had some delightful association — 
a first edition of Milton — a Don Juan on which Byron had 
written, that from this copy future editions were to be 
printed, and the author hoped that the printers would not 
mis-spell, or mis-print, or miss-anything else ; a book (rare) 
which Charles Lamb was able to buy, because it had six 
pages wanting, which he had supplied in his own neat 
handwriting; and a hundred other treasures. In Boston I 
had the pleasure of showing the ** Face of the Master," 
which is Sefton Park work, since it is the joint production 
of the minister and the clerk of the deacons' court. There 
was a large audience, and the slides were much admired. 

Washington impresses more than ever as a city which is 
already imposing, and which is going to be magnificent. 
Its plan is that of a wheel, where the Capitol is the centre 
and the long avenues are the spokes. The Capitol and the 
Congressional Library are noble buildings, and it is 
most heartening to find that no sum of money is too 
great to spend on colleges and libraries and every form 
of education. 

This will be the redemption of materialism and 
millionairism. 



214 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

To-day we had the honour of an interview with the 
President, with whom were the secretaries of the Navy and 
War; he expressed his deep sense of the friendliness of 
Great Britain during recent times, and at a dinner which 
Mr. Gage, the Secretary of the Treasury, was so good as 
to give us last evening, at which we met several members 
of the Cabinet, our host proposed the " two flags." 

At the Philadelphia banquet after the " Star-spangled 
Banner " the company sang " God save the Queen." Much 
pleasant reference was also made to a message sent by her 
Majesty in answer to the offer made by the U.S. Govern- 
ment to send home the body of Lord Herschell in a 
warship. 

On Monday, having seen our Eastern friends, and visited 
again places we liked, Mrs. Watson and I start for the 
West, and, by the time you receive this letter, about half 
our time of absence will be over. 

With constant remembrance of you all, and especially the 
invalids, — Your affectionate minister, John Watson. 

Denver, March 29th, 1899. 
Dear Friends, — Yesterday we had a new, and it might 
have been a sad experience. As we were steaming along 
in the train at fifty miles an hour, our car gave a sudden 
jerk, then another and another, then sprang forward, toss- 
ing us about in our seats, then backwards, and then we 
stood still. A lady was thrown into my arms, and then on 
to the floor; Mrs. Watson sat unmoved. As I looked up I 
saw the negro porter of our car standing in the doorway, 
white with terror, and I then realised that there had been 
an accident. When I looked out from the platform of the 
car (we were at the tail) I saw that the whole of the train 
was wrecked, save one car and our own. 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 215 

The engine was standing, but not on the rails; 150 feet 
of the track had been ploughed up, the sleepers broken 
into little bits and the rails flung about in all directions, 
one being in a field, one in a ditch at the foot of the slight 
incline. The huge Post-Office car was standing half on the 
track and half on the bank, and leaning over at a danger- 
ous angle, while the body was almost separated from its 
iron framework; the baggage car was lying on its side on 
the bank and its frame sprawling over the track; a pas- 
senger car lay body and frame on its side in the ditch 
below, another kept the track although not the rails, and 
threatened to topple over, while our brave Pullman stood 
firm. 

I went forward at once into that other shaky car and 
found our Pullman conductor (a capital fellow), who told 
me that he was afraid the train conductor and baggage 
man were pinned down by the luggage in the baggage car, 
and in that case might be killed. The brakesman came 
along, one hand like a jelly, but very plucky. The first 
thing to do was to flag the train, that is, to stop the next 
train running into us; then to give assistance to the pris- 
oners. In every car there is a little cupboard containing 
an axe and a saw, with a glass window to be broken in case 
of need. It was broken with considerable celerity, and we 
went forward to the car which was lying in the ditch. Al- 
ready the engineer and the fireman who was unhurt, as 
well as the P.O. clerks who had only been knocked about in 
their car, had released the train conductor and luggage 
man, who had escaped injury as by a miracle. They were 
saved simply by the fact that there was so much luggage 
in the car it had jammed and could not rock about. One 
man in the passenger car lying in the ditch had been 
thrown half through the window, and then had broken the 



216 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

rest of the window with a piece of luggage, and had 
crawled out into the ditch. The window at the end of the 
car was broken by means of the axe, and through the open- 
ing the passengers were assisted to get out. Much to our 
amazement and relief there were no dead in the car, and 
while several had painful-looking wounds there was per- 
haps only one seriously injured — an elderly man who had 
been much knocked about and had received a serious shock. 
We brought him to our car, where a bed was made up for 
him and we gave him restoratives. There was a young 
doctor in the other car, which had not been injured, and he 
dressed the wounds of the other passengers, so that our car 
became for the time a little hospital. When we found that 
this most dangerous-looking accident had resulted in no 
loss of life, a circumstance which greatly astonished the 
railway people, we took a couple of photographs of the 
wreck, which I hope may turn out well and will remind us 
in after years of our escape from great danger, and it 
might have been sudden death. A few hours afterwards 
we were taken on by special train to a town called St. 
Joseph. We travelled in the superintendent's observation 
car, which has a glass compartment in the end. We had 
thus an opportunity of seeing the rails, and were not greatly 
impressed either with the straightness of the rails or the 
solidity of the bed. Looking back from our own car upon 
the track over which we had passed just before the ac- 
cident, we could see rails which were not in their proper 
places, but seemed to be bent, and various of the sleepers 
which were turned up in the accident were more than half 
rotten. It appears to me as an unprofessional person, 
that the American cars are much in advance of our English 
railway carriages, being not only much more convenient, 
but also much stronger, and that we owed our safety to 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 217 

the weight and solidity of our Pullman car, but it also 
seems to me that the track of the American railways is not 
so carefully or thoroughly made as the English is, and I 
believe this is generally allowed in America. The great 
railways are, however, renewing their tracks, and I should 
think in the case of the Pennsylvania and the New York 
Central nothing is left to be desired. 

We were interviewed as a matter of course in the next 
town after the accident, and I was careful to impress upon 
the reporter that none of our party had received the 
slightest injury beyond the shaking and the alarm. I 
pledged him that this account should be given wherever the 
news happened to be sent, but we have already received a 
number of telegrams inquiring about our safety. 

On Wednesday I had the honour of lecturing in Lincoln, 
the capital of Nebraska, and the seat of the State Univer- 
sity. We were guests of the Chancellor, and met the Gov- 
ernor of the State and his wife, as well as the heads of the 
departments in the University. From Nebraska we started 
on a long and most interesting journey across the prairie 
lands of Nebraska and Colorado. Perhaps our nerves had 
been a little shaken by our experience of the day before, 
but we certainly did not enjoy crossing the river Platte on 
a narrow and evidently insecure wooden bridge. The river 
is very broad though not very deep, and was swollen by the 
winter's snow, and large masses of ice were floating down. 
The train passed across at the slowest speed, and three 
times halted, while from our car we looked down straight — 
for the bridge had no sides — upon the ice grinding against 
the wooden supports of the bridge. It was with a sense of 
relief we reached the solid land again, for, though we had 
learned that trains might suddenly go off the rails on the 
land, we had also learned that an accident of that kind 



218 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

might not be so serious as it looked; but, if a bridge had 
collapsed, then it is not likely that any person could have 
escaped. The season here is very late and cold, with snow 
upon the ground and ice, while the streams seem to be 
swollen with spring floods. All day we were crossing what 
was once the prairie, but is now either farm land or stock 
farms. The houses are very far apart and look very lonely, 
but now and again we came upon the beginning of a town 
— some fifty houses around a railway station — and it was 
pleasant to notice that the largest building in these infant 
towns was already a public school. Nebraska has a 
magnificent system of education, and as the settlers are in- 
telligent, industrious, hardy people, one feels certain that 
a fine race will be reared on the plains where the Indians 
and buffaloes not very long ago roamed at their will. One 
of our party had scouted all over these plains in the year 
'65 with a hundred cavalry, and more than once could point 
out small rivers by which they had encamped. He had met 
many of the famous Indian chiefs, and could tell many 
strange stories of the Indian's cunning and cruelty. He 
was very enthusiastic, however, about the healthiness and 
pleasure of life on the prairies, where they slept in the open 
air and rose at daybreak refreshed and exhilarated for the 
march of another day. As we journeyed along we saw 
several dog towns, where the curious little communities of 
prairie dogs live; and although the snow kept them indoors 
for the most part, one or two paid their respects to us as 
we passed. Sometimes we came upon a herd of horses 
called bronchos, which we were told by our friends were 
the best horses a man could ride for scouting work, and we 
also saw herds of cattle, but the buffaloes are, of course, 
long extinct except in parts. We also saw three coyotes, 
which are the prairie wolves, trotting along only a short 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 219 

distance from the railway track. They are cunning and 
vicious brutes, which wuU not attack a strong animal or a 
man, but who fasten on any crippled ox or any horse which 
has got lame, and which is left alone. One station was 
named Arapahoe after the tribe of Indians of that name. 
We are now in Denver, a city of about a hundred and fifty 
thousand inhabitants, and from the capital one can see the 
vast range of the Rocky Mountains which are covered with 
snow. We are about five thousand feet high, and to-mor- 
row at Colorado Springs shall be about six thousand. We 
then go through the Rocky Mountains by the Royal Gorge, 
unless it be blocked with snow. From Salt Lake City we 
shall go direct to San Francisco, and we hope that we then 
shall pass direct from winter to spring. On the day that 
we landed in New York, after the blizzard until this 
present has been bitterly cold, with frequent falls of snow. 
This letter will be posted on Good Friday, and I wish you 
all an Easter greeting, which will come to you late, but I 
hope will come when the snow has gone and the buds have 
begun to open, the symbol of the Resurrection. — Your af- 
fectionate minister, John Watson. 

Salt Lake City, 
April 7th to Uth, 1899. 

Dear Friends, — Since I wrote my last letter we have 
made a great journey from the East with its blizzards, 
frosts, raw cold, and depressing sky, to the far West with 
its summer sunshine, greenness, and flowers. 

We started from Denver on the Rio Grande, notwith- 
standing that several trains had stuck in the snow, and that 
the engine of another had jumped the track, killing the 
engineer; but the railway people were very kind and made 
every arrangement for our comfort. The first day we only 



LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

went as far as Colorado Springs, where many smitten by- 
chest disease recover health in its dry, bracing air. It 
seemed the healthiest place for an invalid we had seen in 
America. There is a prosperous and delightfully situated 
college at the Springs, and we were the guests of President 
Slocum. We also visited the romantic seat of General 
Palmer, who had built a house for himself in one of the 
deep valleys in the mountains. The Lodge is at the 
entrance of the valley, and the approach winds for a mile 
or so through woods and over streams and at the base of 
huge cliffs. The house stands where the valley opens in 
various directions, and is the most picturesque I have seen 
for many a year. A mountain stream, whose pleasant 
sound could be heard in the drawing-room, ran at the foot 
of the knoll on which the house is built. Before the house 
rises a pillar about a hundred and fifty feet high, solitary, 
austere, commanding, one of those curious sandstone for- 
mations which are the curiosity of the district, taking all 
shapes from a lion to a toadstool. The house is of wood. 
The woodwork within was very fine, and as one looked out 
from a room where the carved oak furniture was relieved 
by the trophies of the chase, upon crag and pine and water- 
fall, with the pungent odour of the wood fire to stimulate 
the brain, the imagination of a countryman was satisfied. 

We left the Springs on a beautiful morning, the second 
we have had since we landed, and in a few hours had 
entered the Royal Gorge, which makes a way for the trains 
through the heart of the Rocky Mountains. We sat on the 
platform of the last car. We preferred this to riding on 
the engine on account of the beauty of the afterview. A 
stream had cut its passage deep in the mountain, and the 
railroad followed the windings of the river, some of them 
very sharp and sudden indeed. Above us on either side 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 221 

were the precipitous cliffs and beside us the river. At 
one place there is no room for the track, and it is carried 
above the stream on a platform suspended from the cliffs. 
We saw at one curve the engine which had left the track 
lying upside down in the bed of the river, but the body of 
the engineer had been extricated and removed. About 
eight o'clock in the evening we had reached the height of 
our ascent, and the snow was falling heavily. The con- 
ductor was afraid we might be caught in the Gorge through 
which we would pass at midnight, and we went to bed with 
chastened hope. When I awoke we were going through 
banks of snow ten feet high which washed our windows as 
we rushed along, but we were going at fifty miles an hour 
down the pass to Salt Lake City. In the morning we had 
entered the plain in which the city of the Mormons stands. 
Once this was a waste of barren land, and dry as dust. 
Brigham Young, the leader of the Mormon pilgrims, 
looked at this inhospitable land with the eye of faith, and 
saw what it might be made. He struck his staff upon the 
ground and declared this to be Mount Zion. 

Under the patient, intelligent labour of this extraordinary 
people, the wilderness has been made to rejoice like the 
rose, and has been studded with nice little houses sur- 
rounded by gardens and fields. The feature of the Salt 
Lake City is the Temple of the Mormon faith, into which 
no Gentile is allowed to enter; within this place the rites 
of marriage, which with the Mormons is eternal, as well as 
extensive, and the baptism for the dead are performed. In 
the latter rite Mormons secure the salvation of their ances- 
tors who died before the revelation given the latter-day 
saints. In the same grounds is the Tabernacle — an un- 
sightly building, with a roof like an inverted boat, which 
holds upwards of ten thousand people, and is so perfectly 



222 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

constructed for acoustic purposes that a whisper can be 
heard easily at the farthest distance, and also the sound 
of anything falling. The organ is a fine instrument, and 
was played for our benefit with much taste; the choir had 
won the first prize at one of the great competitions, I think 
at Chicago. It consists of about one hundred and fifty 
voices, and can be raised to five hundred on occasion, all 
carefully trained. Near the tabernacle stands the As- 
sembly Hall, which was full in the evening when I lectured. 
The judge of the city presided, and several of the Mormon 
dignitaries were present. In the forenoon I had an inter- 
view with two heads of the community, and received much 
courtesy as well as information at their hands. One of 
their bishops showed us over the city, and was a most 
agreeable man. Mr. Moody was preaching in Salt Lake 
City when we were there, and the Mormon papers were 
most favourable; their only criticism was that he did not 
state the " Plan of Salvation " with sufficient clearness. 
From this you will understand how evangelical the Mor- 
mons are, and how suspicious they are of doubtful doctrine. 

We are accustomed to smile at Mormonism at home, but 
an American has reason for concern. The Mormons hold 
the State of Utah, and they have overflowed into two other 
States. A Mormon Senator has been sent to the Congress, 
who is an avowed polygamist, and the churches are much 
concerned. The position is made the more difficult by the 
fact that, apart from their " peculiar institution," the Mor- 
mons are a hard-working, law-abiding, and moral set of 
people. They are, in fact, a survival of the early process 
of civilisation, and are now a return in their family ar- 
rangements to semi-barbarism, which in course of time will 
die out. 

And now for California. — Your affectionate minister, 

John Watson. 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 

Redlands, California, April l^th, 1899. 

My dear Friends, — If you had only travelled with us 
for two hours this morning through orange groves and 
within sight all the time of the Sierra Mountains, through 
an atmosphere which was both warm and cool as well as 
deliciously clear, and then could sit with us, as we wish 
you all could, especially one or two dear old friends, and 
the invalids, in our room, at the " Casa Loma," Redlands, 
California, then you would agree with us that it was worth 
enduring the wilderness journey through the snow and the 
alkalies to reach this land of Goshen. 

But let us take things in order, from the land of Mor- 
mons onward. After the desert, and the passage through 
the hills which guard the Mormon land on its western side, 
we awoke to find ourselves crossing the river at Sacra- 
mento, the capital of California, and were surrounded by 
the rich green of the winter wheat. In a little time we 
came to a bay of the Pacific, across which our train was 
taken on a steamer, and opposite us in a cleft of the hill 
lay a most picturesque village, with white walls and red 
roofs, reminding one of Italy or Spain. Very likely it 
was as unromantic as any other American village if you 
had penetrated its heart — and certainly its fame was not 
associated with any saint, but with Heenan the prize- 
fighter, who came over to England to maintain the honour 
of America against Tom Sayers, and who was called the 
" Benicia Boy." 

At Oakland, the town opposite San Francisco, on the 
other side of the most ample harbour in the world, we 
left the train and crossed the bay in a steamer, watch- 
ing eagerly for a glimpse of the Queen of the Pacific 
Coast and the Golden Gate, but the atmosphere was 
foggy. We were met at Oakland by one of the heads 



224 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

of the Southern Pacific, which controls the railways of 
California, and on whose system we have been travelling 
ever since. He has been most kind to us, and at every 
place his agents have seen to our comfort. Fifty years 
ago San Francisco was a village, forty years ago it was a 
rowdy town where men were shot in the street, and lynch 
law alone administered justice, now it is a city of 350,000 
inhabitants, well built and excellently ruled, with the finest 
set of street cars in any city of the States. The private 
residences in the higher part of the city are very fine, and 
have a beautiful view of the bay. The Mayor of San 
Francisco is a man of note, even in this country where 
every second man you meet seems to be " the most remark- 
able man in creation." He is young, very rich, well bred, 
of fine tastes, an Irish Catholic, and devoted to the in- 
terests of the city of which he had been twice Mayor, and 
he is endeavouring to infuse a spirit of civic patriotism 
into the city life. At a banquet, where your minister was 
the chief guest, he made an admirable speech, and the next 
day he came to the Palace Hotel — a magnificent house — 
where we were staying, and took us out for a drive through 
the city park, and round the outskirts of the city in a four- 
in-hand. The park is large, well laid out, and ends at a 
headland where a hotel commands a fine view of the mouth 
of the harbour, and stands off the western point of this 
continent. Opposite is Seal Rock, where, as we sat at 
luncheon, we could see the seals disporting themselves on 
the rocks by the score. Afterwards we drove by the sea- 
shore and saw the fortifications, and on returning to the 
city passed through that strange quarter of San Francisco 
where the Chinese live after their fashion, and afford a 
Western an opportunity of appreciating to some degree the 
life of the Celestial. One night I spent an hour in China- 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 225 

town, visiting the temples and opium dens, returning to 
our hotel with a sense of profound relief. 

Last Saturday we had an altogether delightful day at 
Palo-Alto, the seat of the famous Stanford University, 
which stands in its own grounds, surrounded by vineyards, 
and meadows and gardens, all its own; for in one place or 
another this fortunate seat of learning owns some 80,000 
acres of land as an endowment. The University is an 
extensive wine producer, and has also a very fine stud of 
trotting and race-horses, the bequest of Governor Stanford, 
from both of which sources the University derives a large 
income. The buildings are in the Spanish Mission Archi- 
tecture, and when they are relieved by creeping plants, will 
be very satisfactory. The Professors live in charming 
houses surrounded by trees and roses, and here we began 
to appreciate the luxuriance of California. From Palo- 
Alto we went to Monterey, on the coast, where we spent 
two days in the loveliest hotel I have ever seen. It stands 
in a pleasure-ground of a large size, rich in trees and 
flowers, and has within its estate a drive of eighteen miles 
by the shore, with many striking views of the Pacific, and 
through woods with grassy glades. We saw here one of 
the old Spanish Missions, which in past days did so much 
for the Indians of that land, but which were long ago 
despoiled of their property. 

From Monterey we have come to Southern California, 
and for this week have been living in an earthly Paradise, 
driving through air laden with orange blossom, along roads 
surrounded by orange groves hanging with fruit, and sit- 
ting in gardens amid banks of roses ; one garden had three 
hundred varieties, and another had a thousand kinds of 
different plants. Anything more pleasant than the climate 
at places like Stockton^ Los Angeles, Pasadena^ and Red- 



226 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

lands, or anything more beautiful than the homes with their 
tasteful architecture, luxuriant gardens, graceful indig- 
enous palms and perfect turf, one cannot imagine. What 
strikes one more than anything else is that all this over- 
flowing fertility is artificial, the achievement of human 
ingenuity, together with plenty of water. Ten years ago 
the district of Redlands, for instance, was absolutely 
barren waste, and now is a succession of orange groves, 
fringed by palms and rosebushes, and made musical by 
the little rivulets of running water. We visited the finest 
place in the district — a garden of some three hundred 
acres, with woods — which was a grassless, treeless, un- 
sightly pile some seven years ago. Now you drive or walk 
through brakes of roses, Banksia, Gold of Ophir, American 
Beauty, of carnation and stocks, verbenas, geraniums, mar- 
guerites, broken by palms, camphor-trees, azaleas, till you 
are bewildered by the variety and richness. Our host 
believed that in the garden he could grow almost every 
plant between the tropical and arctic regions. I write 
this letter in another garden, where the sun is struggling to 
get at me through the palms, and yet it comes to me that 
the spring in England is still more beautiful, and my heart 
says, *' Oh to be in England in April." On Tuesday we 
shall have reached my farthest point outwards, San Diego, 
and then we shall start on the return journey, via the 
Canadian Pacific, Winnipeg, St. Paul, and New York. 

This letter was pleasantly interrupted by a budget of 
letters from home, and news of the Church and family, and 
now I close it on Sunday morning. I am sitting by a 
stream of pure swift-running water, some twenty feet wide 
and four deep, which passes through my host's grounds, 
and which never runs dry because it is a part of the irriga- 
tion system. On the other side is a grove of pepper-trees, 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 227 

where some of the party are lying in hammocks, and be- 
yond are palms. Along the side of the stream is a bank 
of geraniums, and a little further a rose-tree is trailing its 
flowers in the water. My host, a fair-haired young Cali- 
fornian, is crossing a rustic bridge with his wife, a pretty 
Bostonian, he in blue, she in white, to visit the stables. In 
a few minutes we shall be in a phaeton, behind a pair of 
swift-trotting Californians, and our host will drive us to the 
nearest kirk of our faith, where I shall sit with Mrs. Wat- 
son, and somewhere in the prayers make petition for the 
friends who are far away, and pray that it will be well 
with you on Sacrament Sunday, — Your affectionate minis- 
ter. John Watson. 

Coronado Beach, California, 
April 20th, 1898. 

Dear Friends, — ^We are now on the home stretch, which 
is to be round about and deviating, but which, starting at 
San Diego, within twelve miles of Mexico, will land us at 
Winnipeg, in Northwest Canada, where I expect to con- 
clude this, my last letter to the magazine. 

From Diego we journeyed back to San Francisco, and 
have made a delightful two days' excursion to Santa Cruz, 
which is a very pretty watering-place on the coast, where 
you sleep with the boom of the Pacific billows in your ears 
as they break on the beach below your room. 

As we have had to abandon the Yosemite Valley excur- 
sion on account of the lateness of the season and the fatigue 
we should have, we drove from Santa Cruz to see the " Big 
Trees," which fall only a few feet below those in that 
famous valley. One was 300 feet high, and contained 
200,000 feet of timber; another had a compartment at the 
base, in which General Lamont and a party of explorers 



5S8 LIFE OF IAN :\I ACLAREN 

lived with (modorato") comfort. Wo hnd then n most ro- 
mantic drive down a valley which in its views and wood 
scenery reminded one of Switzerland. Our horses were 
excellent, the road had the most interesting curves and 
hung over ravines at the foot of which the stream was 
crawling, and one of our number drove at a very fair rate 
— so that none of us could weary for two minutes. 

We are now journeying through the rich plain between 
San Francisco and Sacramento, the capital of the State, 
where we rest for a few hours, cii route to Portland, 
Oregon. 

Sacramento was en fete, and I never saw so many stars 
and stripes at the same time. With the national Hag, of 
which every one just now is proud, mingled tlags of all 
colours, but on each the symbol of our faith and the motto, 
" In this sign thou shalt conquer." These were the b;ui- 
ners of the Knight Templars, an old and influential or- 
ganisation of Masons who were holding tlieir gathering 
from a wide district here. Companies of elderly gentle- 
men of venerable jind imposing appearance paraded the 
streets with bands of music and banners, and the knights 
were dressed in gorgeous array, and wore swords with gold 
scabbards. It was with difficulty we could get food, and 
we crept along bacli streets with the feeling of intruders, 
if not spies, on all this glory. We slunk on board the 
cars for our two days' journey to Portland with a sense of 
relief, and awoke next day in perhaps the finest scenery 
we have yet seen, crossing that range of mountains which 
close in California from the North, and of wliich Mount 
Shasta is the crown. All day long we ran along the foot 
of wooded ravines, and by the side of brawling torrents, 
or climbed the side of high hills by a series of ascents till 
we reached the crest, from which we could look down on 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 229 

the valley far beneath. We were sitting at breakfast and 
enjoying the view, when the ear began to bound and re- 
bound after the fashion we had learned to recognise, and 
we knew we were in for another accident. The dishes were 
crashing in all directions, passengers were holding on to 
anything that they could grip, and the coloured waiters 
had bolted like rabbits. Our car remained on the rails, 
and so did every other except the baggage car in the front 
of us, which had jumped the track and had been dragged 
along by the train, half on the track, half off. As we were 
crossing a bridge, this might have been a most disastrous 
accident. As it was, an engine — we had two, and some- 
times three — went on to the next station and brought down 
a wreckage gang, who set the ponderous car on the track 
again in the cleverest way, and in little more than three 
hours we were off again. We spent the time wandering 
about the woods, and envying two passengers who produced 
fishing-rods, and returned with at least one trout to the 
train. 

By this time we were again in the dining-car at luncheon, 
when once more the train came to a halt with a sudden 
jerk, breaking more glass and giving us a slight shake. 
We began to speculate quite calmly which car had left the 
rails, and we were only faintly interested to learn that one 
of the engines had broken loose and gone off on its own ac- 
count. It was reclaimed, and we started afresh, and no 
more accidents hindered our enjoyment of the magnificent 
scenery, although we only got a glimpse of Mount Shasta, 
one of the highest of American mountains. Next morning 
we arrived at Portland, the chief city in the State of 
Oregon. After a public luncheon, where a bright speech 
was made by one of the leading lawyers, Mrs. Watson and 
I were driven to the Park above the city to see the distant 



230 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

view of the hills, but the day was misty, and we had to 
believe in the grandeur we did not see. Next morning we 
left for Tacoma, on Puget Sound, where we were the guests 
of the resident partner of our Liverpool house, Balfour, 
Williamson & Co., and it made us proud, as Liverpool folk, 
to learn not only the greatness of this firm, but also to 
hear from public men one testimony to their honour and 
their philanthropy. 

We made a very pleasant journey from Tacoma to 
Seattle, another seaport, on a swift little steamer, and got 
a glimpse of Puget Sound, one of the most beautiful pieces 
of water in the world, not unworthy of being compared to 
the West of Scotland. Seattle has a lovely situation upon 
a hill sloping down to the Sound, and spreads over forty 
miles square, with a lake of seventeen miles long behind. 
The gradients are extremely steep, but there is an excellent 
system of street cars by which you can go up hill and down 
rapidly and comfortably as in San Francisco and in every 
American city, however hilly. As we sat in one of these 
admirably appointed cars, we could not help thinking of 
those heavy lumbering cars wherein we used to sit, and of 
the poor horses which dragged us up hills in Liverpool. 
Last visit to America, I was much alarmed by the energy 
and enterprise of the Americans, and prophesied the dan- 
ger of their competition in iron and work, but at last held 
my peace, because I was given to understand that as a mere 
layman in such matters I had been deceived by our boast- 
ful cousins. One's sad forebodings have been more than 
justified now, when the Americans are landing engines, 
rails, pipes, and, I think, iron in England. It is not pos- 
sible to travel here and note the resources of the country, 
the restless energy of the people, their inventive ingenuity 
and their commercial dash, without fear for our share in 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 231 

tlie commerce of the future, especially if we are ever to be 
held back in the race of competition by an obsolete system 
of denominational education, our superstition about free 
trade, and our ignorant trades-unions, which insist on the 
incapable workman being paid the same rate as the capable, 
which oppose all labour-saving machinery and deny to the 
clever artisan the reward of his labour. At Seattle we 
dsited the home of a former member of Sefton Park con- 
gregation, situated on a height overlooking Puget Sound. 
We were glad to find our friends so prosperous, and were 
also pleased that they were as keenly interested as ever in 
the old Church. 

As the Kingstown was wrecked and the steamer in her 
place was too slow to make the time, we had to abandon 
the sail up Puget Sound and our visit to Victoria: we 
went direct to Vancouver, passing some lumber camps on 
the way, the first we had seen, and passed with a thrill of 
patriotic emotion the station where the Stars and Stripes 
floats at one end, and the Union Jack at the other. We were 
again in our own land, and there is none in all the world 
where justice is so impartially administered and political 
life is so pure as the Empire of Queen Victoria, — may God 
bless her! Personally I regard the people of the United 
States with respect and gratitude, but the more I see and 
learn of the public life there, the more thankful I am that 
we are not a Republic, either North or South America or 
French, since at present the political life of a Republic 
seems a synonym for corruption. 

We were met at Vancouver Station by Mr. Wilson Kil- 
gour (son of our beloved elder) and his wife, who showed 
as the beauties of this new and very picturesque town, 
which has risen at the terminus of the Canadian Pacific, 
and promises to have a great future. As we saw the Em- 



232 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

'press of China lying in the harbour, which could hold the 
navies of the world, we were reminded that through this 
place our American Empire is knit to our Empire of the 
East, and the girdle of our dominions made complete. 

Next day we started on our long journey over the 
Pacific, the longest railway in the world — 9000 miles — as 
it is one of the most skilfully made and the best managed. 
One of its chief officials showed us much courtesy and gave 
us valuable information, and when we left in our very 
handsome travelling room, it was furnished with flowers 
and photographs of the route. Our drawing-room, in 
maple and strawberry-coloured silk, which at night is a 
bedroom with a little dressing-room, made the prettiest 
home for three days we have ever had, and at our rear — 
we are on the last car — there is a platform with glass sides 
where we see the retrospect. It is, however, quite impossi- 
ble for me to describe what we have seen in the last thirty 
hours. 

As we passed through the Selkirks and the Rockies, so 
marvellous are the works of nature in this region for 
grandeur and beauty that we both agreed that nothing we 
had seen in Switzerland could for one moment be compared 
with what awaits the traveller between Vancouver and Cal- 
gary, on the Canadian Pacific. Sometimes we ran beside 
the deep swift Frazer River, swarming with salmon; some- 
times in deep gorges over a torrent and with high cliffs on 
either side; sometimes close to a glacier as large as all the 
famous glaciers of Switzerland put together; sometimes we 
climbed an ascent at the gradient of 1 in 4; sometimes we 
went up on a loop of four parallel ascents; sometimes we 
skirted the base of mountains rising 8000 feet above us, 
draped in snow and breastplated with icebergs. As the 
sun set last evening we looked back on Mount Stephen, 



SECOND VISIT TO AMERICA 

covered with snow, and having on its bosom a glacier 800 
feet in thickness, hanging over an immense cliff-glen and 
glistening, while the snow had the faintest shade of pink. 
Gradually clouds began to gather and envelop this august 
sovereign, and the valley beneath grew dark. Our au- 
dience was over, and we went to rest with holy joy, and 
with this magnificent and inspiring picture before our 
minds we went to our room, and with this I shall close these 
letters. To-day we are travelling over the prairies both 
monotonous and lifeless, save for an occasional herd of 
cattle or horses, a little colony of prairie dogs, and at wide 
intervals a settlement, where the platform is enlivened by 
a group of Cree or Sioux Indians, or the red coat of one 
of the Northwest Police, one of the smartest bodies of 
cavalry in the world. To-morrow we hope to be in Winni- 
peg, and thence shall proceed by St. Paul and Chicago to 
Boston, where we shall spend a few days with friends, and 
we hope to be home on May 24tli by the good ship Teutonic, 
having seen God's wonders by sea and land, and received 
many mercies at His Hands. — Your affectionate minister, 

John Watson. 



CHAPTER XIII 

WESTMINSTER COLLEGE 

In the meantime Dr. Watson had begun to take an 
active part in the general work of the Presbyterian 
Church of England, especially as Convener of the Col- 
lege Committee. The College of the Church had worked 
in Bloomsbury for fifty years, and had sent out no fewer 
than 336 students. An excellent training had been 
given in spite of inadequate means. But for some time 
there had been a feeling that the College should be 
planted at Cambridge, and two members of the Church 
offered a site and a gift of £20,000 to facilitate the 
change. These ladies were Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. 
Lewis, both of them eminent Biblical scholars. Watson 
strongly desired that the Presbyterians should have their 
College at Cambridge. He held that if the Presby- 
terians went to Cambridge they would possess the an- 
cient heritage that was theirs in the name of God and 
the Puritan faith. Others were gripping the highest 
centres of thought and education in the country. At 
Cambridge they would be at the centre, and he was not 
afraid that their men would pass from the Puritan faith 
to the Anglican faith. There was strong difference of 
opinion in the Church, but both sides came together in 
the end, and decided on the migration to Cambridge. 
There was still a very large sum of money to be raised, 
and the main responsibility for collecting it fell upon 
Watson. His remarkable powers of persuasion and his 

234 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE 235 

dauntless energy accomplished the great task of raising 
in a comparatively small Church the large sum of nearly 
£30,000. He went through the land pleading the cause 
of a learned ministry, and wherever he went he received 
generous gifts. In order to have the College opened 
free of debt it was necessary to raise £10,000 in a brief 
space of time, and £l6j000 were received in five weeks. 
The gifts were of every amount from a shilling to 
£1000. They came from all kinds of people, including 
working men and little children ; they were accompanied 
by evidence of the most intelligent interest in the work 
of the College and the warmest expressions of goodwill, 
and everything was given with cheerfulness and enthusi- 
asm. The College was opened in October, 1899. At the 
morning service Dr. Watson presented the keys to Dr. 
Moinet, the Moderator of the Synod, and he in his turn 
placed them in the hands of Dr. Dykes, the Principal, to 
have and to hold with all due authority. Congratula- 
tory addresses were delivered by Professor Ryle, now 
the Bishop of Winchester, Principal Fairbairn, and 
Principal Rainy. Dr. Ryle assured Dr. Dykes and his 
colleagues of a welcome free from any taint of suspicion 
or jealousy, and referred to the Reformation and its 
work done here in England once for all, and not to be 
undone. Dr. Fairbairn warned the Presbyterians at 
Cambridge against regarding themselves as a Scotch 
colony. Westminster College to do it^ principal work 
must be the Westminster, not of Scotland, but of Eng- 
land. Principal Rainy laid stress on the importance 
that Presbyterian Churches have everywhere attached to 
an educated ministry, and believed that the removal of 



^36 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

the College to Cambridge was a wise step. In the after- 
noon Dr. Watson presided over one of the largest and 
most brilliant gatherings ever held in Cambridge. 
Among the speakers were Professor Jebb; the Vice- 
Chancellor, Dr. Chawner; Dr. Butler, the Master of 
Trinity ; Dr. Moule, now Bishop of Durham ; Professor 
Macalister, Mr. Stephen Williamson, and many others. 
This was one of the greatest days in Watson's life, and 
next to his work in Sef ton Park Church he reckoned the 
work he had done for Cambridge. He was specially 
thanked for the noble efforts he had made on behalf of 
his Church, efforts which had been crowned with success 
which even the most sanguine could hardly have ventured 
to anticipate, and which augured well for the future of 
Westminster College. 

Through the kindness of Principal Dykes, a friend 
whom Watson regarded with the utmost affection and 
admiration, I am able to print some of the letters which 
Watson addressed to Mm in the course of his eager 
campaign. 

TO PRINCIPAL OSWALD DYKES 

September 3rd, 1899. 

My dear Principal, — The better day the better deed. 
Mrs. W. was in church to-day, staying with one of her sons, 
and I looked in this afternoon. He had just been reading 
the appeal for the College, and immediately offered a 
thousand pounds, in addition to his former handsome dona- 
tion, to back up our effort. Of this sum he reserved the 
right to use £500 in doing some special thing, as the com- 
pletion or adornment of the building. 

This is very encouraging. I propose to go from church 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE 237 

to church in Liverpool begging. With a long pull^ a strong 
pull and a pull together_, we may do it. — Yours hopefully, 

John Watson. 
PS. — I am good for another hundred pounds. — J. W. 

TO THE SAME 

September 6th, 1899- 
Dear Dr. Dykes, — I am much obliged for your kind 
letter of yesterday, and your approval of all I am doing. 
One incentive to work, is that you may be encouraged in 
your sacrifices, and your hands held up in the high places 
of the field. 

Now another piece of good news. Lady Gray has sent 
£500 to be entered " In Memoriam." 

I'll write weekly to the Presbyterian to keep the pot 
boiling. If the Church got enthusiastic we should romp in. 

A Cadger. 
TO THE SAME 

September 8th, 1899- 
Dear Dr. Dykes, — Mr. Samuel Smith has promised 
£250 on condition the debt was cleared, and in addition of 
course to his previous subscription of £450. 

Mr. Smith writes to me this morning, enclosing a cheque 
of £50 to make his £450 into £500 all paid, and he also 
promises another £500 if all the debt be cleared off, which 
will make his contribution in all £1000. This is, I think, 
most generous on his part, as you may remember that he 
was opposed to the removal of the College to Cambridge, 
and holds somewhat strong views about the utility of 
Universities and Colleges. He would have liked to have 
been present at the opening, but he is going to America in 
a few days. He is now very cordial about the College, and 
I think that he would like to keep in touch with it, and 



238 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

that he might prove a very good friend in the future. He 
has the utmost confidence^ as he well may have, in you, and 
there are times when the good man thinks that the Con- 
vener is not himself so bad as he may appear. 

I am going to blow a blast in the Presbyterian of next 
week, and perhaps in the British Weekly, which is the 
quarter where I was heard last time. 

Do you think that you could write to Sir Donald Currie, 
who is in your sphere of influence, and any of the Regent 
Square men who are likely to give? It might be an argu- 
ment with the advocates of the Church Extension Fund, 
that the sooner they get our little applecart out of the way, 
the better for their coach and four. By the way I forgot 
to mention that another friend of the College who has 
given liberally has promised £250 more, but his name is not 
to be mentioned at present. The money cannot be paid 
till the Synod of 1900, but it is as good as gold. We are 
moving on, and the thing must be done. I am going to a 
public meeting at Cardiff on the 26th, and a meeting is 
being arranged at Carlisle, and another at Birmingham. I 
am also going to Leeds and Hull, as I think I told you, and 
I am beginning to make arrangements in Liverpool. One 
minister having given me a chance, others have not yet re- 
plied, but I shall waken up the place on Monday at the 
Presbytery meeting. So far as I can see, it means night 
and day work, and terrible cadging until the 17th. I know 
it is not right to ask this, but really when it comes to beg- 
ging, one's conscience gets as hard as leather, and I was 
wondering if it would be possible for you to take a church 
in London before that date. Croydon and Streatham, and 
perhaps Wimbledon, ought to be looked into. I am going 
to try to fix up a flying visit myself. Of course if you feel 
this impossible, you will say so, and you will believe that I 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE 239 

am most anxious to save you labour in every respect, know- 
ing that this cadging ought to be left to a man with the 
kind of intellect and manners which Providence is pleased 
to bestow upon a commercial traveller. John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

September Qth, 1899- 
My dear Principal, — It is just immense: we are going 
to do it, yet not we, wherefore Laus Deo. You will by 
this time have received my letter with notice of Mr. Smith's 
generous intentions. This effort in all now comes as far as 
I can make out to £5265. I hope your list will reach me 
in time for next week's papers. I propose to publish this 
in the British Weekly and Presbyterian, and exhort the 
Church to rise as one man to finish the job. Am going to 
Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds and Carlisle, and Hull. — Your 
faithful partner, John Watson. 

Dykes, Watson & Co., 

Commission Agents and Solicitors. 

TO THE SAME 

September l6th, 1899- 
Dear Dr. Dykes, — The conversion of Mr. M. shows 
that there is a work of grace in the man, and that nothing 
is impossible. Last night I spoke at Mr. Hutton's church 
at Birkenhead, but there was a great storm of wind and 
rain, the meeting was small and heavy. Some congrega- 
tions are difficult to rouse, but one has to fight away. The 
result was not very good, but they promised to make it 
better, and to let me have the result in the beginning of the 
week. I have just been organising one or two meetings 
where I cannot go myself, and am arranging if possible a 
meeting at Croydon, which I shall take along with Wimble- 
don and Norwood next week. The telegraph boy lives in 



240 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

the garden, and the click of the Remington is never still in 
the house, while assistants and secretaries write on the 
stairs, or any place where there is room. Were it not that 
I am paying my own charges in College matters I should 
be afraid to send in my bill, for between office and travel- 
ling expenses it would sink the fund. 

What, however, is my work compared with yours ? And 
I do trust that you will have a good holiday, which you so 
much need, and be in great form for the opening. After 
that event I propose myself to go to Monte Carlo, but my 
wife thinks that it would be safer for me with such a large 
amount of College Funds within my reach, to go with her 
to St. Leonards, and to stay at a house in that district where 
whist is the only game. — With constant remembrance, 
yours faithfully, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

September ^Sth, 1899- 
My dear Principal, — Your letter of the 23rd has just 
come, and found me for a wonder in my own home, to 
which I returned on Saturday at three o'clock after a pretty 
stiff week's work. The week was, however, very successful 
on the whole, so that on Saturday night we were very close 
to £8000. 

What about my sermons, do you say? They are com- 
posed in the train, in strange studies, early in the morning, 
between twelve and one at night, or during the chairman's 
remarks at public meetings, from which I always abstract 
my mind, as they are mainly taken up with references to 
the Brier Bush, and not to Westminster College, which is 
the only thing with which I am now concerned. 

By the way, no cards of invitation to service, luncheon* 
reception, or anything else have come here, and so I gathei 
that you will accept this cadging about the country as my 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE 241 

share of public appearances. Should I be wrong in this 
idea perhaps you would let me know, and Mrs. Watson 
would make an effort to be present. A number of our 
office-bearers are threatening to descend on Cambridge that 
day, staying in London for the night. What about tickets 
at least for the opening service and reception? Our peo- 
ple have done well by the College and I hope will do well 
in the future, and even altho' I were not there myself I 
should like some of them to be there. Mrs. Watson and I 
will come and attend everything whether we are invited or 
not, these being our manners and habits of life. I hope 
this letter may reach you. Letters addressed to my home 
are sent after me to where I am exploring for gold, upon 
swift dromedaries or dog-sledges or any conveyance suit- 
able to the district. — Yours faithfully, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

September 29th, 1899- 
My dear Principal, — Many thanks for your letter of 
the 28th. It is very good of you to write so often and with 
your many duties, and if I do not write to you in return, 
by my own hand, it is because I have so many letters to 
write that my hand sometimes shakes, and is then even 
more difficult to read than usual. 

Many thanks for not asking me to come up to the com- 
mittee meeting, as this kindness leaves me free for the 
cadging. Let me follow up my wire by saying that one of 
Anderson Scott's people has subscribed a £1000, and as I 
was up to the £9000 this morning we have finished the 
business. I propose, however, to complete my programme, 
and raise every penny I can, altho' I shall not practise 
any deception. One never knows what may be needed in 
a building account till every account be in, and the money 
paid, and of course there is always a certain risk about 



242 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

subscription until the cash is in the bank. I want to make 
certain that the whole building be finished and paid for 
down to the last garden shrub and kitchen pan, so that 
there be no charge hanging over the annual account. When 
we are at it our little Church must finish the job well, and 
show that if we be one of the least we are one of the 
bravest tribes of Israel. The meetings have everywhere 
been most loyal and enthusiastic. The spirit of the Church 
is fairly up, and is rising every week. 

With regard to the opening service, it seems all right. I 
am personally alarmed that I have to speak three times at 
the luncheon, and I cannot discover from my paper where 
you are to speak at all. You ought either to propose the 
University of Cambridge, or as I fancy may be intended, 
altho' not mentioned, Westminster will be proposed by 
some one and associated with your name. 

I shall do my best to see that, however hard your work 
may be, it shall not be made harder by financial worries 
about College Funds. I go to Carlisle to-night to send the 
fiery cross up and down the borders. The lads there are 
already clamouring for letters to read aloud from their 
pulpits, and everywhere declaring they must have a share 
in Westminster College. I do not believe any Principal 
ever began his work in a new College with more popular 
interest and with more hearty prayers for him and for his 
College. — Yours beggarly, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

October Uh, 1899- 
My dear Principal, — Our correspondence is surely the 
happiest in the world next to a love one, because we are 
mainly engaged now in intimating fresh gifts to the 
College. 

Since I wrote to you I have been at Carlisle, where there 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE 248 

was not much money, but a large meeting and good hearts, 
and at Birmingham, where there was more money and also 
a vast deal of heart. Birmingham is quite sound, but re- 
quires a little encouraging, and I have an idea that next 
year if it could be arranged that a few of you big men 
should go down to the Midlands, not to beg, which I be- 
lieve is the only thing I am really fit for, but to bid the 
people be of good cheer, it would do a vast deal of good. 
However, that's another story. 

The money still comes in, and I hear of another £500 
paid at the office by an unobtrusive person, who prefers to 
call himself G. B., which is very encouraging. Other 
donations are coming in, and there is generally a sound of 
much rain. You will notice by to-morrow's Presbyterian 
the line which I am taking, which is that there will be many 
expenses before we have done with the College, and that we 
must get in the last penny. My opinion is that the spirit 
of the Church is now so strong that we shall finish this sub- 
scription gloriously. You will enter the College supported 
by the enthusiasm and prayers of the whole Church. — 
Believe me, yours beggardly, Dugald MacTavish. 

TO THE SAME 

October 25th, 1899- 
My dear Principal, — Once more let me congratulate 
you on the great success of last Tuesday. Nothing could 
have been better arranged, and we are all extremely in- 
debted to yourself and your assistants in this matter. 
There are one or two matters on which I should like your 
mind as they concern the future history of the College. 
First of all there is the annual income, and this must be 
increased. I shall make this week a strong appeal that 
every church should now give loyally to the support of the 
College, and that our larger churches should increase their 



244 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

giving. We must not do anything even in appearance to 
isolate the College from the Church, for that would be 
contrary to our principles, and it would also be very un- 
grateful to the people of all kinds who have so loyally 
supported us, and whose sympathy is so genuine. We 
must, however, have a subscription list, and a body of men 
who will make the fuller endowment of the College their 
heart's desire. Permit me also to add that I shall not be 
satisfied until the Principal of Westminster College has a 
larger salary. 

As you will notice I did not remain for that committee 
meeting, for I was tired and worn out, but I should like to 
have a talk with you about the House Committee. It ap- 
pears to me that it ought to be, as it was before, a sub- 
committee of the College Committee, and to be responsible 
to that committee especially as it will have to deal with 
many financial details. Another thing that occurs to me is, 
that with the enormous responsibility laid upon you in 
representing our College in Cambridge, and making this 
new departure with its great issues, you must not be 
troubled with any detail. It would make the gods laugh 
if the Principal of Westminster College had to deal with 
books and bed-makers ; it would also be a disgrace to those 
of us who had anything to do with the business affairs of 
the College. — Yours faithfully, John Watson. 

I give a few more letters written to Dr. Dykes about 
this time : — 

TO PRINCIPAL OSWALD DYKES 

October 27th, 1899- 
My dear Principal, — As I am writing and may not be 
troubling you again with a letter before November, I would 
like to say that my mind is still more than ever fixed not to 



WESTMINSTER COLLEGE 245 

accept the Moderatorship, even if my name should be 
brought forward through the undeserved kindness of my 
brethren and the recent efforts which I had the privilege of 
making for our College. No man ought to undertake a 
duty for which he is not fitted, and certainly nature never 
intended me to undertake such high functions. I can cadge 
for money or deliver a lecture, or take the chair at a busi- 
ness board, or preach the Gospel in a simple fashion, but 
I cannot sit in the throne of a Church. On this matter my 
mind is made up, and as it is not right the Moderatorship 
should ever be refused, I venture to ask you as the leader 
of our Church to prevent my name being brought before, 
or at least being discussed by the nomination board. 

Another matter I would like to mention at this early date 
in order to have your mind upon it when the time comes for 
action. As my work in the removal of the College to 
Cambridge, and its establishment there, has been finished, 
and as I think there will be no grounds for anxiety on ac- 
count of the yearly income, I propose to do what has been 
in my mind all along, after my seven years of office, to 
resign the Convenership of the College Committee. 

My reasons for this step are briefly these: that such 
offices should not be held too long by one man, because he 
is apt to grow ineffective. That a new man feels bound to 
do some new work, and that my successor would have an 
excellent opportunity in endowing the fourth chair. That 
I think I have given enough time during these years to be 
my share of public work in the Church, and ought to do 
more for my own people from whom Church work has 
taken me a great deal of late. I am not any more suitable 
for a Convener than for a Moderator, and I shall be very 
glad when I leave these high places and go down again into 
the ranks of the working ministry from which you took me 



246 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

in 1892, and to which I shall return with much relief. — I 
am and shall ever be your loyal supporter, 

John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

October 31st, 1899- 
My dear Principal, — To-day I do not dictate, rather 
supplicate. First a word of thanks for your kind letter, 
and its commentary on various matters. Second: Do let 
me slip out from the Cabinet, and be a Queen's messenger 
or some such person. The goodness of my brethren has 
been the best reward, and one far more to my mind than 
office. No one in my place could be offended for no one 
has been better treated, and every one knows how unfit I 
am for the business of Church Courts. May I offer this, 
for in everything I wish to please you, that I will continue 
Convener for a year, if there be no word of the Moderator- 
ship. — Yours unofficially, J. W. 

THE SAME 

November 10th, 1899- 
My dear Principal, — I am greatly obliged, and I am 
also much humbled by the trouble which you have had to 
take about my case. This week I saw the two Fathers of 
the Church, and they both gave me very kindly and sound 
advice. Perhaps it may be only putting off the honourable 
day, but in the light of what was said I intend to decline 
the nomination for 1900, and to do so on the grounds that 
I am going to rest. — Yours faithfully, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

November 29th, 1899. 
My dear Principal^ — You have had so much trouble 
about the Moderaforship, that it is only right to thank you 



WESTIVONSTER COLLEGE 247 

and to let you know that I have decided to leave myself in 
the hands of the Church, but like other people whose minds 
vacillate in regard to questions of expediency, I am now as 
miserable in accepting as I would have been if I had 
declined. 

I consulted my friend Nicoll, who told me three things 
in order. First, that he didn't consider it any particular 
honour. Secondly, that as I had been offered it, I must 
accept it; and lastly, that he didn't know a more unsuitable 
man. I consulted my Elders, who declared with two ex- 
ceptions that people would be disappointed if I didn't 
take it, the minority holding that it was a matter for my 
own concern. I did not write to my Scots friends, because 
they would have written with one accord after the manner 
of Scots Kirkmen, to say that they were interested to hear 
that we had a Moderator, and to ask where our Synod met. 
Already I am receiving letters exhorting me to buy the 
Moderator's handbook, which the writer says is shortly to 
be published by Mr. H., and will, he says, have one chap- 
ter on how to clear your throat, and another on how to 
twirl your eyebrows. This book the writer assures me is 
to be brought out in the Badminton series, and as my cor- 
respondent is one of the leading members of my Church, 
and a future Moderator, he ought to know. 

Seriously I cannot lift up my head nor my heart till May, 
1901, if I be spared so long. Allow me to thank you for 
the honour which you have done me in proposing my name, 
and to express my hope that during my year of office I may 
do nothing to bring discredit upon my Church. — Yours 
faithfully, John Watson. 



CHAPTER XIV 
THE BOER WAR 

On October 9, 1899, the British Government received 
an ultimatum from the Boer Government in South 
Africa demanding that " the troops on the borders of 
the Repubhc should be instantly withdrawn, that all re- 
inforcements which had arrived within the last year 
should leave South Africa, and that those who are now 
upon the sea should be sent back without being landed." 
Failing a satisfactory answer within forty-eight hours, 
" the Transvaal Government will with great regret be 
compelled to regard the action of Her Majesty's Gov- 
ernment as a formal declaration of war, for the conse- 
quences of which it will not be held responsible." Her 
Majesty's Government next day instructed Sir Alfred 
Milner to inform the Government of the South African 
Republic that the conditions demanded by the Govern- 
ment of the South African Republic are such as Her 
Majesty's Government deem it impossible to discuss. 
There followed the great Boer War. 

Watson at once sided with the Government, and set 
himself to stimulate by every means the patriotic spirit. 
He was by no means a blind partisan. He could do 
justice to the character of the Boers, and also to their 
claims, but he held that the war was justified, and he 
believed that war had its uses in the providence of God. 
Besides doing all he could in Liverpool to encourage 
men to go out, he preached from time to time on the 



THE BOER WAR 249 

subject. He thus incurred the attacks of those who be- 
Heved the war to be unrighteous, and it is well known 
that a considerable number of the English Nonconform- 
ists were on this side. He was invited to preach on a 
special occasion in Wesley's Chapel, London, on March 
2, 1900, and Mr. Chamberlain had agreed to preside at 
a public luncheon after the sermon. Strong objections 
were taken by many Wesleyan Methodists to Mr. Cham- 
berlain's presence, and the luncheon was abandoned, 
much to the disappointment of Watson and many others. 
But Watson had preached to his own people a sermon 
in December from the text " When Thy judgments are in 
the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn right- 
eousness." He protested against the spirit which is ever 
carping at a man's own country, and ever prophesying 
the worst, and declared it was not wonderful that people 
should lose patience with pul^lic leaders who were chiefly 
concerned about the interests of some foreign country, 
and never really caught fire except in pointing out the 
faults of their own. " Whatever may be our view re- 
garding the original necessity for this war, and the 
spirit of diplomacy which led to its outbreak, we were 
agreed in the final crisis that war could not be escaped 
without dishonour and the denial of duty ; and we were 
also quite convinced that it would be crowned with a 
speedy triumph." But the grievous humiliation of our 
people in a land which had been for England the grave 
of high reputations and gallant lives had its purpose. 
If we had carried everything before us we should have 
been intolerable " both to God and man, and the song of 
the drunkard would have gone up to heaven. ... If 



tSO LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

a few weeks a^^o we were drunk with militarism, we 
have been thoroughly sobered, and are in a position to 
consider our ways, and to learn the meaning of the 
Dirine judgment." He points out tliat the arrogance 
of the nation sorely needed to be checked. " We have 
not in Europe to-dav — ^with perhaps one doubtful excep- 
tion — a single friend. Yes! and what is more galling, 
there is not one of those ignorant, sinful nations, as we 
reckon them, which does not think that we are wrong, 
greedy, unscrupulous and oppressive." Also greed of 
wealth had brought us into our present state, and had 
led to the death of so many brave men. " What is cer- 
tain is that the immediate occasion of this disastrous 
war was the desire of a pastoral people to retain the con- 
trol of their own country, and the determination of a 
handful of mine-owning millionaires to seize it for their 
own ends. They were not tliemselves brave enough to 
fight, and now they are not generous enough to give, 
being as mean now as they were cowardly before, but 
they were cunning enough to induce a gang of criminal 
adventurers to make that raid for which we are all now 
paying, in sorrow, or in blood, and in the end to set by 
the ears our great empire and tliis little nation of coun- 
try-folk."' He characterised the Boers as " Jews of the 
Old Testament time, removed only from the period of 
Judges by their kindness to their enemies after the fight- 
ing is over. But still there are two things which cannot 
be denied, they are strong men, both in body and heart, 
able to endure and ready to fight, and according to their 
light and training they fear God. When I read that 
the Boer commandos were sent ofi" to the war with re- 



THE BOER WAR Sol 

ligious service I did not laugh. It is better that men 
should go forth to their death filled with prayers, than 
with strong drink, better they should go from a place of 
worship, than be gathered from public-houses. When I 
read that companies were engaged in prayer during bat- 
tle, and that our shells killed them praying, I did not 
triumph, for I knew that such a people would be hard to 
beat." He concluded on an inspiriting note: — 

The war has come and the war must be fought to the 
end, and I make no doubt, notwithstanding all our reverses 
in the beginning, that we shall gain the victory; and I 
make as little doubt, notwithstanding many fears, that our 
victory will be for the good of South Africa. We have 
sinned in departing from the living God and caring over- 
much for this present world, and therefore we are being 
punished as Israel was punished. Yet Israel was God's 
instrument in fulfilling His purpose of moral education 
throughout the world, and England, if one can make any- 
thing of history, has been God's instrument in spreading 
civilisation and administering justice among savage or op- 
pressed peoples. If the only end this war would serve 
were to give fresh fields for greed and gambling, then the 
best thing that could happen to our country would be de- 
feat, but if the end shall be the establishment of liberty and 
order, and equal rights to all men, whether Dutch or 
English, black or white, in South Africa, then we shall 
have in our generation another evidence that God is over 
aU, bringing light out of darkness, and making the sin of 
man to praise Him. 

It may be seen from this that Watson was by no 
means an indiscriminating partisan, but he saw the weak 



252 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

points on the English side and the strength of the Boers. 
But when he spoke to the Wesleyan Methodists in March 
he dehvered a message of comfort to England. " Are 
any man's eyes so blind that he cannot see the mission of 
England? Have not we been surrounded by the seas and 
our national character formed for purposes that we can 
recognise ? What nation has ever planted so many colo- 
nies, explored so many unknown lands, made such prac- 
tical contributions to civilisation, set such an illustrious 
example of liberty ? " He praised the nobler spirit 
which God had given England during the progress of the 
war. " I do not say we are a wise people — there are 
foolish people in a large nation ; I do not say there have 
not been peevish complaints, shrill, high-pitched, shriek- 
ing voices ; I do not say there have not been ungenerous 
criticisms; but I do say that all that has been but the 
spume on the surface of the water, and that throughout 
our homes — and a minister knows the homes of a people, 
and the tones of the homes is more than the cries of agi- 
tators — through the homes of our people there never has 
been a nobler spirit, more unboasting courage, more un- 
faltering confidence in God. Has our army," he asked, 
" ever stood higher in bravery, in patience, in confidence, 
than to-day? from that old man that went out stricken 
in his own heart, and at the age of seventy led the armies 
of England to victory, down to the laddie who would be 
in the front line of fire, and when one arm was disabled 
shifted the bugle to the other hand and blew till he 
fell." He triumphed in the adhesion of the Colonies. 
" A covenant has been made between England and her 
Colonies, and the covenant has been sealed with blood, 



THE BOER WAR 253 

and to-daj England and the colonies are one. They re- 
viled us, those nations of Europe, with exceptions, they 
reviled us ; but it does not matter what the outside world 
says if your own family is true." 

TO PRINCIPAL OSWALD DYKES 

January 3rd, IQOO. 
My dear Principal^ — The result of the War Sermon 
has been a stream of correspondence, whose writers regard 
me either as a prophet or an ass. As the division of opinion 
seems nearly equal, I fancy that I am in " de middle of de 
road." — Yours afflicted but determined. 

The MacWatson of MacWhat. 

TO W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 

17 Croxteth Road, Feb. 22, IpOO. 

Dear Nicoll, — I send two of the articles promised with 
dates of publication, March 25, April 25, or nearest days. 

Have just received anonymous post-card, i.e. this morn- 
ing's B.W., urging that I and my sons should go to the 
front, as the country could afford to lose us, which has 
greatly tickled the family. 

How are the people created who write and post these 
things, and are they beyond grace? — Till Wednesday even- 
ing, yours respectfully, John Watson. 

With the officers who were unfortunate in the South 
African War, Watson had a warm sympathy, and espe- 
cially with Sir Redvers Buller. He wrote a paper 
" News of a Famous Victory," describing how the tid- 
ings of the relief of Ladysmith were received in London ; 



254 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

Each man took the news in his own fashion^ one laugh- 
ing and slapping his legs, another crying and speaking to 
himself, a third rushing out to cheer, and I, why I, being 
an unemotional Scot, remembered that if I fooled away any 
more time, reading news of victories, I might lose my train, 
so I rushed back to the hansom. 

" Is 't all correct ? " the driver leant down from his perch, 
determined not to let himself go till he was perfectly cer- 
tain that, not only the straight tip had been given, but that 
at last the event had come off. 

"All right," I said; " BuUer's army have driven back 
the Boers, and the advance guard has entered Ladysmith." 

Whereupon he whipped off his hat, and standing up in 
his place, a stout, red-faced Englishman in sporting dress, 
he gave a cheer all on his own account, and then when I 
got in he opened the trap, and shouted down, " Old Bul- 
ler's done it; he had a bloomin' tough job, but he's a game 
sportsman, and I said he'd do it. And old Buller's done 
it ! '* Again he celebrated the event with a cheer, and we 
started for Charing Cross. 

It was a record of actual experience, and he reprinted 
it in his little volume, His Majesty Baby and some Com- 
mon People, It drew the following letter from General 
Buller :— 

FROM SIR REDVERS BULLER 

Dec. 20, 1902. 

Sir Redvers Buller presents his compliments to Dr. Wat- 
son and thanks him for the copy of His Majesty Bahy, 
which he has duly received. 

Sir Redvers highly appreciates the gift as a present 
from an author whom he admires. He is naturally pleased 



THE BOER WAR 255 

and complimented by the article, but above all he is grate- 
ful for the kindly sympathy to which he attributes the 
origin of the gift. 

TO W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 

17 Croxteth Road, 7th November IQOO. 

Dear Nicoll, — You may be interested to know that I 
have been doing my best for that boy you introduced to me, 
and that I heard yesterday that he is likely to get a place 
in one di our best shipping offices. It is not certain, but 
the omens are favourable, and the case is in the hands of 
one of my elders, who is not easily beaten, and who you 
will be pleased to know is taken with the lad. 

I have finished Morley's Cromwell; it is an excellent 
piece of writing and on whole sane in its judgment, but as 
history, not to be compared with Firth or Gardiner. 
Although this is a valuable remark and contains news 
which might not otherwise reach your ears, I make no 
charge, I am that kind of man. — Yours wearily. 

John Watson. 

TO A CLERGYMAN'S WIFE 

November 29th, IQOO. 
I am obliged for your courteous letter of the 21st, which 
I could not answer sooner as I have been from home. You 
are quite right about the apparent inconsistency between 
the hope expressed in The Potter s Wheel, regarding the 
ultimate home-coming of children longed and prayed for, 
and the painful facts of character referred to in The 
Doctrines of Grace, and which seem likely in some cases to 
blight that hope, but is it not this antinomy throughout 
Holy Scripture, where you have the will of God working 



256 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

for our salvation^ and passages that seem to imply that that 
will must be fulfilled, and again other passages of warn- 
ing and foreboding? The Bible often seems to be in two 
minds, and we also not only may be but ought to be in two 
minds, hoping with all our might, and yet laying to heart 
the awful permanence of character. 

One of his warmest friends, Sir Thomas Grainger 
Stewart, an eminent Edinburgh physician, was at this 
time lying on what proved to be his deathbed. Watson 
writes him a letter of cheer: — 

TO SIR THOMAS GRAINGER STEWART 

January 10th, IQOO. 
Dear Sir Thomas, — It does not follow, although per- 
haps it ought, that because I write this letter there is some- 
thing in it worth reading. Nothing is happening here 
except Influenza, which keeps me very busy, but is not a 
cheerful subject for a sick room. This plague divides our 
interest with the war, about which we feel very anxious, 
and about which we are holding patriotic meetings. We 
had the most influential meeting in the Town Hall that I 
have seen for many years, when some of us spoke for the 
fund to arm our Yeomanry. Several of my neighbours' 
sons, and some of them in my own church, who are riding 
men, are going out at their own expense, horse and man 
together, and I think it is a noble thing that young men 
should be giving up luxurious homes and risking their lives 
for the Empire. This is one good thing amid much which 
is doubtful and painful. I have been preaching in my own 
church that every young man should now be drilled, and I 
am thankful to say, that my eldest son and several of his 
friends went down and passed the medical examination 



THE BOER WAR 257 

next daV;, and if he had not been already a volunteer, I 
think he would have offered himself for the army. 

In the meantime, or rather to fill up the time, I am to 
act as Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of England. 
As my term of office begins at the end of April and I have 
much to learn, I am already calculating a dignified walk 
on the street, and clearing my throat in a sonorous way, 
and waving an eyeglass while I speak, and have been try- 
ing, with poor success however, to put off old friends who 
wish to shake hands at New Year's time, with a couple of 
fingers and a noise in my throat. For a whole year I shall 
not be an ordinary man, saying what I think and going 
where I please, but shall be pouring forth pompous plati- 
tudes with fearsome gravity, and travelling from bazaar to 
bazaar, and from one foundation stone to another, besides 
addressing religious bodies as an ambassador from a 
friendly power. It will be, if I dare compare small things 
with great, as if I were physician to Her Majesty the 
Queen, and had you been in your usual health I should 
have come North to learn some tricks of speech and man- 
ner from you, especially how to go backwards without sit- 
ting down abruptly on the floor, or descending like a bat- 
tering-ram on some great lady. 

The weather to-day is much brighter with us, and much 
more may I hope it is with you, and this ought to do you 
good and help you to regain strength. We have passed the 
turn of thie year, and Spring is not so very far off, for I 
cling to the old-fashioned idea that Spring begins on the 
1st of February. — Yours ever faithfully, 

John Watson. 
Alias Ian Maclaren. 

" Pastor Hairy-bed (of Galatia). 

" Terence O' Watson (Cork). 

" The Moderator Elect. 



258 LIFE OF IAN IVIACLAREN 

The end came soon, and the letters to Lady Grainger 
Stewart explain themselves. 

TO LADY GRAINGER STEWART 

December 22nd, 1900. 
Dear Lady Stewart, — It is a very busy time, and my 
hand is weary at this season. You will excuse a vicarious 
type, for I wish to assure you that when we think of our 
friends at this time we remember you and yours in the 
earthly home with affectionate regard, and we do not for- 
get those who are in the Father's House, and who remem- 
ber us. May you have at this time that peace which the 
world cannot give, and which it cannot take away, and that 
joy which Christ had even looking forward to the Cross, 
and may the love of God be your dwelling-place. — Your 
faithful friend, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

February 15th, 1900. 
Dear Lady Stewart, — You will by this time have read 
my humble tribute to the memory of your beloved husband, 
and my valued friend. It is inevitable that you should 
think it less than it should be, but that is the disability of 
any pen in the public press. What I wrote was from my 
heart, and you see it has an honourable place in the paper. 
Kindly accept the assurance of my sympathy in your loss 
of so distinguished and so dear a husband. If there ever 
be anything in which I can serve you or yours you will 
command me for the sake of the days of the past, and you 
will ever believe me to be, — Your affectionate and faithful 
friend. John Watson. 



CHAPTER XV 

MODERATOR 

The great services which Watson had rendered to his 
Church, and the prominent position he had taken in the 
country, made it natural that he should receive the 
highest honour his brethren could confer. Accordingly, 
he was appointed Moderator of the Presbyterian Synod 
of England in April, 1900. He had been used to joke 
on the ways of ecclesiastics, and from some points of 
view it was comical that he should occupy a great eccle- 
siastical office. But his banterings on this subject must 
not be allowed for a moment to disguise the truth. I do 
not believe that any honour Watson ever received was 
more valued than the Moderatorship, and this for a very 
simple reason. He was thoroughly loyal to the Pres- 
byterian Church of England, and he valued with his 
whole heart the esteem and confidence of his brethren. 
He had hesitated previously about occupying the chair, 
especially when he was suspected of heresy, but when he 
saw that the tribute was unanimous and cordial, he re- 
ceived it with unfeigned delight and gratitude. 

The Moderator of a Presbyterian Church presides 
over the meetings of the Supreme Court, and is expected 
during his year of office to serve his Church by preach- 
ing on special occasions over the country. Perhaps no 
Moderator ever flung himself into this service with more 
joy and more generous expenditure of heart and effort 

259 



260 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

than Watson did. In truth, he was never the same man 
after his Moderator's year had expired. He had drawn 
too heavily on his great resources. From all over Eng- 
land incessant demands came to him, and he responded 
to them up to his power, and beyond it. During the 
whole year he had only two evenings for his family — 
Christmas and New Year's Day. It was then that he 
showed certain signs that his powerful constitution had 
been injured. One of these was insomnia. But it was 
a happy year, assuring him as it did of his place in the 
heart of his Church. His name was by this time so 
well-known, that wherever he went, he could at any time 
command a crowded audience. " This," he wrote to one 
of his sons, " shows not that your father is a great 
preacher, but that he is well-known, which is a rather 
different thing." But his sermons, his addresses, and his 
kindly fellowship in the manses of his brethren stimu- 
lated the whole life of the Church. 

Among the most important duties of a Moderator is 
his address to the Synod. He was most heartily wel- 
comed, and it was pointed out that while the evangelical 
party in former times looked with suspicion on the lit- 
erary efforts of their ministers as tending to draw them 
away from their proper work. Dr. Watson had used his 
great literary reputation and position to serve more 
effectively the Church to which he belonged. Watson 
took as his subject the theme which lay nearest his heart 
— Faith and Humanism. Humanism he defined as the 
love of the beautiful both in literature and in art, to- 
gether with that culture of one's mind and that unre- 
strained joy in living and that fulfilment of one's 



MODERATOR 261 

nature, which lent an undying youth to the classics of 
Greece and Rome, which was the charm of the European 
renaissance, and which to-day is casting its ancient and 
pagan glamour over the brightest minds of the genera- 
tion. Faith was that knowledge of God and that dis- 
cipline of the soul, together with that service of man 
which from the beginning have affected the more spir- 
itual minds of the race and created saints, whose litera- 
ture is contained in the writings of prophets, apostles, 
theologians, mystics, whose children have been the mis- 
sionary, the martyr, the evangelist, the philanthropist, 
whose renaissance has been those revivals of religion 
which have renewed the face of society. He deprecated 
the Puritan suspicion of letters. He affirmed that 
the masters of literature had been the friends of Christ. 
He pleaded that a tender regard should be shown to the 
many thoughtful and devout persons who had been 
affected by the atmosphere of the day,, and had ceased 
to believe in the essence of the Christian creed. He 
asked whether it would not have been better that the 
government of the Church in critical periods of thought 
and action should have been, not in the hands of the 
extreme right, by which he practically meant the evan- 
gelical party, but rather under the control of the mod- 
erate left, by which he meant those who held the faith 
of Christ with a cultured moderation. He allowed that 
the debate between more faith and less culture and more 
culture and less faith had to be settled by the facts of 
history, and he owned that it was Luther rather than 
Erasmus who had spread Christianity. " It was not the 
cultured school of moderate clergy, but the evangelicals 



LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

who, with the exception of Boston and Witherspoon, had 
not one writer among them ; who were rough in style, out 
of touch with men of letters and bigoted in doctrine, 
that were the saving salt of the Church and of vital 
religion in the age when both were threatened with 
decay." What had to be striven for was a reconcili- 
ation. " When one goes to the root of the matter, the 
central doctrine of the Christian faith can never be 
acceptable to humanism, save where some great human- 
ist is also a greater Christian, for it is necessary to lay 
it to mind to-day, and to insist upon it with all our 
strength, both of intellect and of emotion, that the very 
heart of Christianity is the deity of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." Christianity goes deeper than humanism ever 
can, for it is a salvation and not merely another system 
of morals. " With the Incarnation we have the relation 
of God, the Divine Fatherhood, an atoning sacrifice 
for sin, the victory over the things which are seen and 
the assurance of a blessed immortality. The race is no 
longer hopeless, human history is no longer a dreary 
tragedy, the grave is no longer the close of life." 

Professor Stalker, who was present at the Synod 
where he was Moderator, writes : — 

There also I had the privilege of seeing him in one of the 
crowning moments of his life, especially one day, when he 
must have spoken for over two hours; first, in giving in as 
convener, the College Committee's report; secondly, in re- 
porting on his own campaign for the extinction of the debt 
on the new buildings at Cambridge; and, thirdly, in re- 
sponding to a vote of thanks from the Synod for his efforts 



MODERATOR 263 

in that cause. Never have I seen any man — not even 
Principal Rainy in the Free Assembly — with a body of 
men, for the time at least, more completely in the hollow of 
his hand; and never have I seen a man on any occasion 
display such a profusion and variety of powers. 

As Moderator Watson had to present to the King on 
his Coronation the address from the Presbyterian 
Church of England. He was excessively nervous on this 
occasion, but showed no trace of this in reading the doc- 
ument, while his delight in the opportunity — for the 
King had no more loyal subject — was very great. In 
this year the union between the Free Church of Scot- 
land and the United Presbyterian Church was consum- 
mated at Edinburgh, and Dr. Watson conveyed the con- 
gratulations of the English Presbyterians in a speech 
at a great meeting where over 7000 were present. He 
was not in the fullest sympathy with the union, partly 
because he thought the Highlanders did not receive full 
justice, but mainly because he earnestly desired a re- 
union of the whole Presbyterianism of Scotland. In his 
speech he pleaded that both Churches should work each 
from its own side of the wall towards a complete recon- 
ciliation. His own view was that the Church of Scot- 
land should have spiritual independence conceded by 
Parliament; that the endowments should be sacredly 
reserved for religious purposes; and that there should 
be a kind of disestablishment which would not interfere 
with the State recognition of the United Church as the 
Church of Scotland. 



264 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

TO A FORMER ASSISTANT IN SCOTLAND 

January 12th, 1901. 

I am obliged for your last letter and all its kind words, 
but I fear very much that it will be long before I can visit 
you in what is called an official capacity. My strength is 
being heavily taxed by this Moderatorship, which is far 
heavier than I ever anticipated, and my congregational 
work is being rather neglected. 

I have resolved if I be spared to remain at home, except- 
ing in fulfilment of one or two engagements made long 
ago, for two years, attending to my church and my duties 
in Liverpool, and occupying my private time in a very 
important work, which I promised to do three years ago, 
and have hardly yet touched, which will take my spare 
time for some years. You are now, however, in a Church 
so great and rich in theologians, orators, lords, and dis- 
tinguished people of every kind, that the visit of an English 
Presbyterian, even of a former chief, could only be of the 
smallest importance. It is indeed good of you in your high 
places to think of us at all, and I have a shrewd idea that 
your invitation was meant as an act of kindly encourage- 
ment to a struggling foreign missionary. 

TO W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 

17 Croxteth Road, 
Liverpool, IQth February 1901. 
Dear Nicoll, — As I am writing, I hasten to add that 
I do not propose as a rule to write daily, but will occa- 
sionally pass a Sunday. I received quite a number of let- 
ters about Church Folks, very pleasant and friendly, but in 
many cases wanting some qualification put in about the 
minister's busy life. Do you think it would be any use to 



MODERATOR 265 

take notice of those criticisms in a future edition ? My im- 
pression is that you could not have a keener discussion in 
the B,W. than on the question of whether the Ministry 
really uses its time well^ and whether it is up-to-date in its 
knowledge. Forsyth is with us just now as a missioner, 
and preached a very earnest sermon last night. He has a 
very impressive gift of repetition which I believe is most 
useful especially in appeal. The great want of preachers 
to-day is unction, tenderness in dealing with the human 
soul, affectionate appeal, and insistence upon the Eternal 
commonplaces of religion. 

With this lofty oracle I beg to subscribe myself, your 
obedient servant, Epaphroditus Higginbotham 

(Auroraville, U.S.A.). 



CHAPTER XVI 

LATER YEARS 

Dr. Watson was much exhausted after the completion 
of his work as Moderator. He sought to reheve himself 
of some responsibilities, and he took occasional holidays. 
But it was not in his nature to rest. The concluding 
years of his pastorate at Sef ton Park were full of public 
and pastoral labour, though their routine was not 
broken by any unusual incident. He went on preaching 
and lecturing through the country, and he was busy 
with his pen. Fortunately I have letters of his own 
which record the main events. In this letter to Dr. 
Dykes he explains his plans : — 

TO PRINCIPAL OSWALD DYKES 

March 7th, 1901. 
My dear Principal, — It is, I am sorry to say, im- 
possible for me to continue longer in the important office of 
College Convener, and I will briefly state my reasons. 
First, it appears to me that I have held this office beyond 
the time expedient for a Convener, and that a change would 
bring in new ideas, new energies, and new ambitions. 
Second, the special work with which I have been identified, 
namely the removal of the College to Cambridge, and the 
clearing off the building debt, has been finished, and at the 
moment when a man's special work has been concluded the 
break ought to come and he ought not to begin another 
work, which he would have to leave unfinished, namely the 



LATER YEARS 267 

increase of the College income^ and other matters. Third, 
this is a very important work, and therefore may well in- 
vite the services of one of our best men, who would not 
be inclined merely to take up the College after all the im- 
portant work has been done, and be merely a routine 
official, as some Conveners are, imagining no great thing, 
but simply giving in mechanical reports. A mere harbour 
captain, instead of the captain who brings the vessel from 
port to port. Fourth, such a man would have an enter- 
prise entirely his own and separate from mine, in which his 
credit would be involved and an honourable name could be 
made, and in asking for funds he would appeal possibly to 
new clients, and certainly with a new voice. Fifth, during 
the last year I have felt very much overstrained, and am 
very tired both in mind and body. ISIy health has been 
suffering, and altho' I work hard, I do so with much less 
physical strength than that given to most of my brethren, 
whose robustness I envy. I hate talking about one's 
health, but I may mention that no insurance company would 
take my life as it now is, altho' I was once a sound man. 
One thing I certainly gave to our Church, and that was my 
health, for I was once considered a first-rate life. Besides, 
and perhaps this is more important, my mind has of late 
been flagging very much, and through the desultory life I 
have been leading, I am behind in reading, and have had 
too little leisure for thought and spiritual culture. My 
preaching, therefore, has been failing, and the life of my 
congregation suffering. If Sefton Park Church is not to 
decay, and if I am to maintain its pulpit and its spirit, I 
must for some years retire from public Church work. 
Sixth, my plan is to give up all public work outside Liver- 
pool, without any exception, for at least two years, except 
now and again a lecture to some literary institution, which 



268 LIFE OF IAN :\IACLAREN 

is a little variety, and which I enjoy, and in Liverpool I 
propose to confine myself to the most important objects 
and meetings. I quite hold that every man ought to give 
his share of public service to the Church, but I think I 
have done mine, and will gladly allow others to have their 
opportunity. 

Pardon me stating my reasons at such length, and accept 
this wearisome letter, which has grown into a sermon, as a 
proof of my respect for you and the care which I have given 
to your letter. — Yours faithfully, John Watson. 

To a friend abroad he sends some home gossip. 

October 18th, IpOl. 

As I am obliged to go slowly this winter, lest a worse 
thing befall me, I have an occasional half-hour of leisure, 
and as you are wandering to and fro, and might like to 
have some home gossip, I send you this budget of varied 
intelligence, altho' as my hand does not remain steady for 
so long a letter, I must send it in type, for which no doubt 
you will be grateful remembering how difficult my writing 
is to read, even at the best. 

If I remember rightly, you left in the best of weather, 
and that weather continued until the end of September, 
which altogether was a lovely month, and made one wish 
it had been included in his holidays. This afternoon, ISIrs. 
"Watson and I go to Delamere Forest where the Countess 
of Derby is to open the Consumption Hospital. We 
promised to go, and I am down on the card for the vote 
of thanks, and so we must go, but as it is raining heavily 
and the weather has fairly broken, we would rather stay 
at home. For the much needed rain has come now, and we 
have had gales and torrents within the last week or two. 

F. preached on September loth, two most learned and 



LATER YEARS 269 

able sermons for which we were all grateful. Altho* F. is 
one of the most learned theologians in England, yet you 
could not have had a more genial guest in the house, and 
after he had discussed Theology and given us a mass of in- 
formation, it was his pleasure to call on the Japanese mice, 
which have recently been added to our family, and to see 
those exceedingly funny animals doing their waltzes. 

Perhaps the chief event in Liverpool since you left has 
been the visit of Lord Roberts, who distributed medals to 
the volunteers, and others who had won them in the war, 
and had a great reception. Jack was out with our Scots 
Regiment helping to line the streets, and a very wet day 
they had of it standing in their kilts with the rain blowing 
about them. We all wish that this weary war were over, 
and I make no doubt you are praying for the same end, 
for you have entered into the depths of its sorrow. I trust 
that you have been comforted in your great sorrow, and I 
can assure you, altho' people may not always be referring 
to it, you are in the thoughts of many, and have still our 
deepest sympathy. 

Last Sunday I preached in Marylebone Church, London, 
to a very large congregation, but always feel happiest at 
home, and firmly believe that there is no congregation so 
intelligent, so broad-minded, and so kindly as Sefton Park. 
I am now in the twenty-second year of my ministry in 
Liverpool, and sometimes grow a little tired, but when I 
think of the kindness I have received and the prosperity 
God has been pleased to give us, I take courage again. 
Did any one suppose twenty years ago that Sefton Park 
Church would have had such a history? We have good 
cause both for humility and for gratitude. 

If you have time amid all your journeys and your sight- 
seeing we shall be glad to know how it fares with you, that 



270 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

you are well, and enjoying yourselves in the States. Have 
you seen the Indian summer on the Hudson, and the glory 
of the St. Lawrence, and the magnificence of Washington, 
and are you going to cross the Rocky Mountains ? By this 
time, however, you must be tired of a letter that is growing 
into a sermon, and so with our united affectionate regard 
to you both, — Your faithful minister, John Watson. 

Watson had published during his Moderatorship 
what is perhaps his ablest theological book, that on The 
Doctrines of Grace. In this he made a resolute attempt 
to translate the main documents of theology in a fresh 
and simple way. The most orthodox of his critics were 
disarmed. He was deeply gratified by an appreciation 
from Dr. Horton, who described the book as " a signal 
illustration of Grace in the widest sense of the term — 
Grace of style and Grace of thought; the Grace of a 
man, and the Grace of God." He also worked at liis 
Life of the Master, which was published, with special 
coloured illustrations, in McClure's Magazine. This 
book, which is highly elaborated, had a considerable 
sale both in its more expensive and in its cheaper form. 
He was working also at his school sketches published 
under the title Young Barbarians. 

As the winter of 1901 passed on he became very 
weary, but was reluctant to take a holiday. 

TO W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 

17 Croxteth Road, 
Liverpool, 28th November IQOl. 
Dear Nicoll, — Your kind and welcome note came last 
evening, and the words of commendation encouraged me. 



LATER YEARS 271 

first because your commendation is to me, as well as to the 
public, very weighty, and second, because being in low 
spirits a pat on the back moves up my ears and tail. 

With Black's book came down Neatby's book,^ and I 
now send a review. The book interested me so much, as 
well as the whole subject, that I have written at some 
length, but I hope the article may not be uninteresting. 
You have done a valuable service in securing that book. 
Do not suppose, however, I cannot write short notices of 
books when I am so minded, or the book requires no more. 

You ask we whether I am going to Egypt, and my first 
reply is that as the newspapers have said everywhere that I 
am going I must be going, I may also add, depending on 
the newspapers, that I am to be " accompanied by Mrs. 
Watson," that I am to visit the military stations and to 
compare notes with the chaplains, that on returning home 
I am first to write a report on the chaplains' work, for 
whom I don't know. Second, to write a book on Egypt; 
and third — but this grows wearisome. 

As a matter of fact, I was asked to go with one of the 
most delightful men in Liverpool, and as a guest for six 
weeks in Egypt, and my wife and my friends thought I 
ought to go, and I, being always anxious to get rid of work 
if I can, and do as little as possible, besides not being well, 
was strongly inclined to go also. But — it sounds like a 
Pharisee, and nobody will believe it — I did not think my- 
self justified in taking six weeks out of the winter's work. 
In fact, the prime cut of the joint. So I am not going, 
but under medical directions am playing golf as much as 
possible, and when you come down once more to see us, 
which will be at our golden wedding, I will challenge you 
to a match. 

^ A History of the Plymouth Brethren. 



272 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

I am quite unnerved, and can only sign myself^ — Yours 
penitently, Jeremiah MacWheep. 

PS. — Review sent to you as I am writing. — J. W. 

TO PRINCIPAL OSWALD DYKES 

November 26th, 19OL 
My dear Principal, — Very many thanks for your 
friendly letter, and I am none the less grateful that I am 
not going to Egypt. I was invited to go with a small party 
of men for six weeks, and my wife and elders thought I 
ought to go, but I declined for the simple reason, tho' it 
sounds like a Pharisee to say so, that I did not think it 
right to be absent six weeks from my work and family at 
the meeting of the years. But I am going very slowly this 
winter, and playing golf a good deal. 

So far as I can see I am not likely to startle the com- 
mittees or Church Courts by my presence for some time. 
The last thing I did at a Church Court was to protest 
against the pleading in connection with the translation of 
my colleague to Scotland. Would you believe it, but as 
you know Church Courts better than I do, I fancy you can 
believe anything in the way of pompous unreality, that in 

face of the fact that Mr. had told his people that he 

was going, after indeed having preached as a candidate for 
the place, and the Presbytery in Scotland had actually 
affixed the date of his induction, and he had accepted that 
date, and made his arrangements accordingly, three days 
before our Presbytery met five commissioners from F. 
argued at considerable length, that we should consent to 
his translation, and warned us of the injury that would be 
done to F. if we refused. We afterwards asked prayer for 
guidance, when the whole matter had been settled as far as 
any human affair can be settled till it happens. I made a 



LATER YEARS 273 

strong protest, and afterwards received assurance of hearty 
approval from laymen of intelligence who were present and 
who simply detest those exhibitions, but the reverend 
fathers present, I rather think, disapproved of such revolu- 
tionary ideas, and the leader of the Scottish deputation, a 
typical ecclesiastic in voice and build, declared with em- 
phasis in a letter to me afterwards, a very indignant letter 

I may add, that they were not sure of Mr. 's coming, 

and if they had been would never have come south. As 

Mr. said to me, " what the man means he may know, 

but I don't, for I had agreed to the date of the induction." 
And Mr. also expressed his hope to me that the peo- 
ple in F. would not perpetrate the stupidity of a deputation. 
"Why do I weary you with this? Because I have some 
hope that you may add to all your services of the past this 
other, namely, the simplification of our forms, so that this 
immense unreality in connection with Calls may be brought 
to an end, and the scandal among laymen may be removed. 
In Scotland the people may enjoy these farces, in England 
they do not understand them. — Believe me, your humble 
country brother, Jeremiah MacWheep 

(Village Pastor). 

It was impossible to hold out very long, and he went 
to Egypt. 

TO MR. COLVILLE 

Luxor, December 15, 1901. 
My dear Colleague, — It is afternoon with us, and 
through the window we see the palms and hear the trick- 
ling of the water in the garden of this beautiful hotel, 
where, after the most delightful journey up the Nile, we 
arrived this morning. 



374 LIFE OF IAN IMACLAREN 

Everything has gone well witli us since we started, the 
seA was like a lake. At Port Said, one of the chief men of 
Egypt laid himself out to do us kindness, and told us more 
than many of us could ever learn about Ismail, Gordon, 
Arabi, Kitchener, Mahdi, and the Canal, and accompanied 
us to Cairo, showing us Tel-el-Kebir on the way. Our 
passage up the Nile was perfect, and now we have settled 
till the 26th in the midst of beauty and sunshine. I slept 
last night from eleven to seven, which is very unusual; it 
rather rested me, and I think of keeping the habit up. 

We visited the Temple of Denderah yesterday and had a 
ride through the rich country where poverty is unknown. 
If England had done nothing else our Nile has at least 
redeemed and blest Egypt, where the people have peace 
and contentment. I trust everything goes well at Sefton 
Park. Please give the people every good wish on Christ- 
mas Day, and say that I am already feeling better. 

JoHX Watson. 

TO FREDERICK W. WATSON 

Luxor, December \6th, IQOl. 

Dear F., — One of the most delightful things in the 
world must be to ascend the Nile in a steamer which goes 
slowly and calls at many places. 

The river is very broad and runs at a great rate, is of a 
light brown colour and has usually high banks, along which 
the people on foot and on donkeys are ever mo\'ing. Vil- 
lage follows village, each with its palm-trees, native vessels 
going up opendecked with huge cargoes under one large 
sail, for the north wind is now blowing up the Nile, or 
dropping down with the current. Sometimes we pass a 
swell-decked passenger steamer, hired by a millionaire for 
the winter, with his lordship sitting on the deck, and a host 



LATER YEARS 275 

of gaily-dressed sailors in attendance sprinkled about. As 
soon as the steamer whistles we know that the boat is in the 
way, and it is one interest to watch how skilfully the native 
boatmen work her. Sometimes with their enormous sail 
they are caught in a squall where the hills approach the 
river, but not often, and then the Dahabeah may go over, 
but no lives are lost, as the Nile inhabitants swim from 
infancy like ducks, and dive as perfectly. 

At the stern of our steamer a boat is towed, and standing 
aft I once saw a pretty little scene. The Nile banks have 
many birds, and one, a charming creature in black and 
white, a water wagtail, I guess, having some friends up the 
river, and seeing that we carried passengers, lighted on the 
boat, and by an by went down as it were into the cabins. 
It then mounted the prow, where it stood flirting its tail 
and examining the steamer in front of it. Why not go by 
the steamer like other tourists, and so it examined the ropes 
by which the steamer held the boat, and then it selected 
one which seemed the safest, and began to come along, so 
daintily, balancing itself by its long graceful tail, now and 
again fluttering with its wings and pretending that it was 
afraid of falling, and every minute I expected to see it land 
on our boat, when something alarmed it, perhaps our Arab 
steerage passengers may have moved on the deck below, 
but it gave an apologetic glance at me, murmured some- 
thing about a friend on the bank, and darted off with many 
a graceful motion on the water and through the air, and I 
saw no more of my Nile Wag-Tail, a brief pleasant ac- 
quaintance. 

To-day we made a long excursion to the tombs of the 
Kings, twelve miles in the donkey saddle ; but you must not 
judge the animals we had to-day by the feeble creatures we 
have at home. My donkey was white, handsome, and very 



^76 LIFE OF L\N ]MACLAREN 

strong, and c\intored with the invalid ns if your father had 
weighed five stone instead of nearly eight. 

Alas, every lx>dy has had letters except poor me. some at 
Cairo, some here. Ill-luck always follows me in letters, but 
I am keeping my poverty dark, for on a former occasion 
when I travelled witli some men. they used to read portions 
of their letters to me. which I resented deeply. — Your 
affectionate father. J. W. 

TO THE SAME 

"5S. ATJia^is," Dcccjuhcr '20f7i, IPOI. 

Dear F.. — Cards you have had and messages, but I 
think no letters, altho' I had a very charming one from you. 
For which many thanks. 

Luxor, altho* most interesting through its magnificent 
antiquities, temples, and tombs, and altho" the hotel is 
excellent, grew unendurable through the dogs. Every 
Arab has one — a long, hungry, ill-tempered brute, who 
sometimes lies in front of his master's mud-hut and does 
his best to catch you as you pass, which is his day occupa- 
tion. After nightfall he momits the roof of the house, and 
makes ready for night duty. For a short time he contents 
himself with a few disconnected barks, by way of tuning 
up. and then about eleven the concert fairly starts. One 
is leader, and he opens with a long plaintive howl — a solo 
on a high note, and after two seconds the whole chorus, or 
let us say orchestra, joins in eaeh in his own key, or with 
his own instrument, and we have a piece of Wagnerian 
music which lasts twenty minutes, after which there is a 
pause broken only by applause from the cocks of the dis- 
trict, and a bravo from some jackal. As I am not a 
hardened attender of the Philharmonic though a lover and 
performer of religious music, one or two pieces satisfied 



LATER YEARS 277 

me for the night, but the concert lasted from eleven to 
five, neither the chief soloists nor the chorus showing any 
signs of fatigue. Your father allowed himself to wish that 
every dog in the district, and there appears to be one 
thousand one hundred and nine exactly in Luxor, had been 
sent to — a dog's home in Cairo. 

So having visited the Grand Temple in Kamak in addi- 
tion to those mentioned in preceding letters, and having 
had a camel-ride and a sail on the river, we went on board 
this fine steamer, and on her will go up to the first cataract 
and see the great dam being made on the Nile, and return 
on her to Cairo, being on the river ten days. The heat 
is very great and to some extent reduces our pleasure. If 
you complain of cold in England' you would complain of 
much of the fiery heat which keeps one perspiring night 
and day. Our steamer has just stuck on a sandbank, 
which gives variety to the journey. Love to the menagerie. 
Your affectionate Father. 

On his return he delivered a course of lectures on 
" The Scot in the Eighteenth Century " at the Royal 
Institution. The lectures were very well attended. He 
received the following from Sir James Crichton 
Browne: — 

February ^Ith, 1902. 
Dear Mr. Watson, — The Royal Institution is much be- 
holden to you for your recent lectures, which were well up 
to its highest literary standard. They charmed all who 
heard them. We shall probably make another appeal to 
you for assistance one of these days. W^ere you to give a 
Friday evening discourse the theatre would be crowded. — 
With sincere esteem, yours most faithfully, 

James Crichton Browne. 



278 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

TO W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 

18th November 1902. 
Dear Nicoll, — A few nights ago I was dining with 
some men who meet to discuss everything in Heaven and on 
earth and in the waters underneath the earth, and amongst 
other theories raised, one man, not devoid of intelligence, 
gave it as his opinion that one of the objects the Govern- 
ment had in the present Education Bill, or at least one of 
the results they knew would come from it, would be the 
destruction of Denominational schools. Personally I had 
difficulty in believing that Balfour was so utter a Machia- 
velli, and I wish to cling to that optimistic view. 

My faith in human nature is, however, much shaken by 
the fact that the editor of the Expositor, who is supposed 
to be its friend and protector, has insisted upon a man 
whose mind is doddering, devastating the pages of the 
Expositor with a subject which has been adequately treated 
by eminent scholars, and about which the proposed writer 
knows very little more than a village Pastor. He is sorry 
to think that the days of the Expositor, a useful, though 
didactic magazine, are so near an end, and humiliated as 
he has been chosen to give the coup de grace. 

There is still time for repentance and a way of escape. — 
Yours sadly but hopefully, Jeremiah Dunderhead, 

MA. (Minnehaha), 
D.D. (Akropolis), 
President Y.X.Z.W.A., 
Ex-Chairman P.Q.T.S. 

TO THE SAME 

The University, Glasgow, Dec. 1, '02. 
Dear Nicoll, — Wire just come to me at Glasgow, where 
I have been preaching before the University. Am so en- 



LATER YEARS 279 

gaged that I cannot get five minutes for article. Three 
requests from London! I feel Dr. Parker's death as a 
personal loss: although I had only known him for a year 
or two I had learned to love him: his heart was as good as 
genius. — In haste, yours faithfully, John Watson. 

PS. — Preached yesterday in Bute Hall, University, to 
largest congregation ever in building. Many not getting 
in, about 2500, on " The Snare of Ease." — J. W. 

TO THE SAME 

17 Croxteth Road, 
Liverpool, 8th January 1903. 
Dear Nicoll, — It would have given me satisfaction to 
have written a notice of Mr. Smith's book, but I cannot do 
that or anything else at present for the following reason. 
On Monday morning, after some pretty hard work on 
Sunday and the preceding week, I had a nasty attack of 
illness, centring mainly in my head, and have just crawled 
into my study in a very shaky and confused condition. 
My doctor says I must take care, and I have cancelled 
every engagement outside my church to the end of July, 
and I shall write nothing, and indeed, as a matter of fact, 
can write nothing which is not absolutely obligatory. May 
I add again with the voice of an old man near the end of 
life that if, after what has happened to me from taMng a 
Moderatorship, you ever do the same, then your blood be 
upon your own headi* — Yours feebly and confusedly, 

Jeremiah MacDottle. 

For 1903 we have several letters to his friend, the 
Rev. Dr. Aked, now of New York, who was abroad in 
ill-health. 



280 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

. June 13th, IQOS. 
My dear Aked, — You are a greater preacher, but I am 
an older man, and so I take the liberty of dropping the 
Mr. on condition you will drop the Dr., and it makes the 
matter easier to me, because I want to begin by quarrelling 
with you. Whether the new cure of which I hear such 
wonderful things includes an iron and quinine tonic I do 
not know, but a quarrel is just the thing to pick you up. 
My grounds are two, and the first is, that you should have 
put yourself to the trouble of writing an answer when I did 
not expect such a thing, and when you ought not to be 
writing letters of any kind. This ground of quarrel, how- 
even, I do not propose to labour, because I was much 
touched with the kindness of your letter, and also by the 
somewhat disparaging account you give of yourself. I had 
hoped that you were in a better state, for what we hear in 
Liverpool is cheering, and I earnestly trust that when you 
wrote the cloud was only a passing one, and that you are 
really to be another of those many splendid cures which 
the new treatment is accomplishing. My memory recalls 
at this moment three eminent ministers of the Scots Kirk 
who suffered from bad lung disease in their early days, and 
when I knew them, men past middle age, were said in 
popular speech to have only one lung, and who all died, the 
last quite recently, at ages varying from a little over 
seventy to just touching ninety, and who rendered immense 
service in their day. One of them indeed, quite a dis- 
tinguished person, lived so long that he became quite a 
terror to a congregation from which he drew a retiring 
allowance, because he not only had a colleague, but that 
colleague grew old, and a third man was needed; and it 
seemed likely as if there was going to be a geological for- 
mation of colleagues, one upon the other, and all resting 



LATER YEARS 281 

on the old red sandstone of this gentleman, aged ninety, 
and who from the age of about twenty-five had only pos- 
sessed one lung. Another of these pre-scientific cures cer- 
tainly slipped away about the age of seventy, through hard 
work on a tour in the East, and heart disease through ex- 
cessive stoutness. He was a great speaker, but he did so 
well with one lung that if he had had two his congregation 
might have sat in their own homes and heard him dis- 
tinctly. And we have a minister in our own English 
Church who broke down badly in the early fifties with lung 
disease and went to Australia, which was the cure then. 
He celebrated his jubilee three years ago, and is convener 
of a committee on the Jews, and never knows an hour of bad 
health. Such instances I have hastily collected from my 
memory, and all that was in the days before Copernicus; 
the things I see now pass belief. Why, two years ago I 
visited a young lady who was lying in bed, utterly helpless, 
and I bade her good-bye, when they persisted in taking her 
down to Heswall — I thought they had better have allowed 
her to die in her own room — and the preposterous young 
woman is not only alive, but has grown absurdly stout, and 
can't even get up a cough to show what she used to be. 

But I hear you saying to Mrs. Aked, " Poor Watson, he 
is falling into his anecdotage," and so I will hasten on to 
scold you soundly, which is my second ground of quarrel, 
for speaking of your work being undone. This from a 
Prophet of the Lord, and from an Elijah sent to Liver- 
pool, is wickedness, and I trust immediately afterwards the 
Angel who attends to you brought you food, and that 
straightway you were delivered from the snare of the evil 
one. You have lifted up your voice and testified for right- 
eousness all those years, and will you dare to say that your 
work is not in its essence eternal.'* You have braced men 



LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

up to fight the World, the Flesh, and the Devil, you have 
brought many thousands, who would likely have gone to no 
other preacher, within the sound of the Evangel; you have 
built up the Kingdom of God as Blake would say, built up 
Jerusalem " in England's green and pleasant land." It is 
the way you Baptists (I mean John, not the denomination) 
have of depreciating yourselves, and I prescribe that you 
read the Eulogium passed by our Master upon John Bap- 
tist, when he sent the despairing message to Jesus. It is 
the greatest ever spoken of any man, and I like to think of 
that big brave man, thinking in Herod's dungeon that his 
life had been a failure, and Jesus lost in admiration, de- 
claring in face of the people, that of all the stock of Israel 
there had been none like John. The world looking at 
Herod in his banqueting chamber and John in his dungeon, 
would judge there was no doubt which of the two had 
failed. And there was no doubt. The Judge of all men 
was already giving the decision, for " The world passeth 
away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of 
God abideth for ever." John the Baptist's work undone! 
I do well to be angry, yea even unto swearing. 

" Taking to preaching now." Suppose I am exaggerate 
ing. If the thing be true I am saying I defy you to reject 
it, so let me hear no more about undoing, but rather thank 
God that for those thirteen years you have been able to 
do so much which remaineth, and so I bury the hatchet and 
declare peace. But upon two conditions, that you do not 
add the weight of a straw to your daily duty of making 
your cure by even the shortest note, but ask Mrs. Aked of 
her kindness to send me a scrape of a pen on a post-card — 
mark you, a post-card only — telling me how it fares with 
you, and that you never again speak of your work being 
lost. 



LATER YEARS 283 

This country is seething with excitement over Mr. Cham- 
berlain in his new role of the Prophet of Protection, and 
the situation is unexampled, for no one knows how far the 
Government is with him, or what he himself hopes to do. 
It is a dangerous situation also, for the prosperity of the 
country, since anything that affects our trade, touches us 
vitally, but I can see one good, and that is that every per- 
son not cursed with intellectual frivolity will be obliged to 
face the economic question and to think it out for himself, 
and it seems to me that the curse of politics of late years 
has been that people were refusing to think, and that the 
political machine was managing everything, which would 
eat out the national life. 

In literary circles the excitement is the last Carlyle 
publication by Froude's executors, and the general view is 
that it is absolutely shameful. Those poor Carlyles ! 
They had genius beyond measure, and the defects of their 
qualities were that they did fret and quarrel, but they also 
loved one another, and now when they are gone, it is a 
crime to open the grave. The best books in fiction of late 
have been Lady Rose's Daughter, by Mrs. Humphry Ward, 
better written, I think, than any of her other books, though 
not of course raising such burning questions, and The Pit, 
an American novel, dealing with Chicago speculations by 
a very powerful writer of Zola's school who has since died, 
but I dare say you have seen both of them. By the way, if 
a parcel of magazines arrive soon of varying qualities, you 
can either read them or fling them away as it suits your 
mood. 

With very kind regards and constant remembrance. — 
Yours faithfully, John Watson. 



284 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

TO MRS. AKED 

June igth, 1903. 

Dear Mrs. Aked^ — Will you tell Dr. Aked that there is 
to be a passive resistance meeting here, and that it is to be 

addressed by N ? INIy information indeed is from 

N y who wrote asking whether I would take him in for 

the night, and if I objected to outlaws. I told him he 
would be doubly welcome here, because I not only objected 
to the income-tax, but like every other Highland Celt, ob- 
jected to all taxes. The movement seems to be spreading 
in England, and tho' my own judgment does not go witli 
it, I am as much opposed as any one to a bill which imposes 
religious tests upon a branch of the Civil Service, and 
treats Nonconformists most unfairly. I hope to live to see 
those unjust provisions removed from the educational laws 
of the country, and to that end shall always speak and 
vote, altho' I have not seen my way to be a passive resister. 

This controversy is, however, being overshadowed by 
the economic debate which is beginning to rage through the 
country, and which also concerns the welfare of the 
people. 

I trust Dr. Aked is making some improvement, and that 
in spite of bodily weakness, he is in good heart. He is 
much missed in Liverpool, and is warmly remembered by 
many. 

Believe me with many kind regards, — Yours faithfully, 

John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

July 9.nd, 190s. 
Dear Mrs. Aked, — It was most gracious of you to send 
me a personal letter, and I thank you for its friendly 
contents, but chiefly for giving me such good hope of your 



LATER YEARS 285 

husband's ultimate recovery. His restoration to the fight- 
ing ranks will be a reinforcement of righteousness, and will 
straighten the line like the sound of a bugle call. 

Dr. Aked may be interested to know that according to 
my measure I lifted up my voice last Sunday night against 
compensation for publicans in any shape or form that 
was to come from the nation, but I expressed the desire of 
many for compensation from publicans for all the misery 
they had wrought in England, for the wounds which they 
had inflicted on " the daughter of my people." Yesterday 
Mr. Arthur Chamberlain, who is coming forward as a 
champion of temperance, addressed a meeting in the Con- 
cert Room of St. George's Hall, and made one of the most 
powerful and convincing speeches in defence of the recent 
action of the magistrates and reduction of licenses that I 
have ever heard. His words have the clean cut of a 
scimitar; they not only divide the bone of a hostile argu- 
ment, but what is more difficult, and the finest test of a 
Damascus blade, they slice in two the gossamer lacework 
of many fallacies. 

Dr. N was our guest when he spoke in favour of 

passive resistance to a large and enthusiastic audience. As 
on this matter I am not a stalwart, believing that we can 
best gain our ends by the ordinary methods of democracy, 
reasoning and voting, I was not present, but did my best to 
fit the champion out for his crusade and to refit him when 
he came home. I have not yet despaired of democracy, 
and hope to see the day when there shall be a national 
system of education in the land, with no tests and free 
from the control of all priests. Believing that tests and 
Priests have been a heavy weight upon the progress of the 
race, and from this pious belief I do not exclude the Jewish 
Priesthood (so curiously admired by good people) who 



286 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

were as great a curse on the whole to their nation as on the 
whole the prophets were a blessing. 

Some few days ago I sent off a few magazines light and 
heavy, but I think all interesting, and mainly perhaps 
heavy, including the best edited magazine of public criti- 
cism I know, the North American Review, which combines 
our solidity with what the Americans pleasantly call 
" snap." 

Trusting that Dr. Aked continues to improve, and with 
very kind regards to you both, — Believe me, yours faith- 
fully, John Watson. 

TO DR. AKED 

October 15th, 1903. 

My dear Aked, — The bazaar yesterday opened as it 
appeared to me with great spirit. There was a large at- 
tendance. Mr. G. was very cordial, and it would have 
done you good to have seen the enthusiasm of the people at 
every reference to your name. It gave me great pleasure to 
be present, and I had my few shambling remarks typed in 
order that I might send them to you, not because you are 
likely to be impressed by the pedestrian style, but because 
it will let you know that I have tried in my dry Scots way 
to express the sympathy of my heart with you and yours. 

Every one at Pembroke was most kind, and they had a 
beautiful bouquet for Mrs. Watson, which I carried home 
to her in vicarious glory, for the day was so dreadful and 
she was rheumatic, and so she is bitterly regretting that she 
missed the personal pleasure of receiving the bouquet. We 
were both much touched by this thought of us, for by a 
special arrangement of the Creator a man is so constituted, 
that he is better pleased to have kindness shown to his wife 
than to himself, and the wife is of the same make only more 



LATER YEARS 287 

so. The tears always come to my heart when a Scots 
woman speaks with pride of " my man/' for see you^ out of 
all the world she has chosen him, and he has chosen her, 
and he is " her man." It was my doubtful fortune once to 
give the marriage address at a fashionable wedding, and I 
struck the note of " my man," and charged the bridegroom 
so to carry himself in the lists of life, that the bride would 
be able to make a boast of " her man." And as I am a 
living sinner, I declare to you, there were mighty dames in 
lace and jewellery who had to fall back on their scraps of 
handkerchiefs, and men present who had somewhat osten- 
tatiously to readjust their eye-glasses. For, to quote Kip- 
ling (quite incorrectly) : 

For the Colonel's wife and the Corporal's wife, 
Are just women beneath the skin. 

Will you thank Mrs. Aked for her most kind letter, and 
the good news in it, and believe me with friendly remem- 
brance, — Yours faithfully, John Watson. 

June nth, 1903. 

Dear Major N., — Your letter came when I was from 
home, and I now write to express my deep gratitude to you 
as our Commanding Officer for the kind congratulations 
which you have sent in your own name and that of the 
battalion on the occasion of our silver wedding. 

We have had a very happy life, and one part of our 
happiness has been that we have shared our interests in 
common, and amongst them none has been more genuine 
than our devotion to the battalion. 

It has been a subject of great satisfaction to me to see 
so fine a national regiment, and any slight service I have 
been able to render has been amply rewarded. — I remain, 
yours faithfully, John Watson. 



CHAPTER XVII 

CONVERSATION 

Ali. who knew John Watson, however shghtly, agree 
that he was at his best in conversation. As one of his 
most intimate friends has said, he poured out his intel- 
lectual wealth in a stream of talk which was far more 
marvellous than either his speaking or his writing. His 
talk was largely made up of Scottish stories, and they 
were told elaborately and at length. In fact they were 
character sketches rather than stories. He would select 
an individual representative of a type and build up by 
one detail after another a living portrait. Principal 
Fairbairn has best described his manner in conversa- 
tion : — 

He was always a favourite in my house, although he was 
difficult to entertain — one indeed became breathless in the 
attempt to keep up with him, for his speech was vivid and 
his tongue was quick. Hence I was prone to be, in his 
society, subdued into an unwonted yet characteristic 
silence. I can indeed well recall, during a comparatively 
recent visit to his house at Liverpool, how I ventured on a 
tale which was very familiar to me. He and his family 
laughed heartily when they heard it; and then a son turned 
to me and said: "Wait, sir, till you come back, and your 
story will be so dressed up that you will not know it as 
your own." My wife used to say that Watson's setting 
of his tales was better than the stories themselves^ and 



CONVERSATION 289 

here she spoke the truth. A friend of his, who is also a 
friend of mine, almost as welcome in our house as he ever 
was, is also famed for the stories he tells ; yet it was always 
easier to entertain the two apart than the two together. 
The two apart could be compared; together they each 
annihilated the other. 



It has been held by good judges that anecdotes ruin 
conversation, and in this there is a certain amount of 
truth. Watson could not be called ordinarily a good 
listener. He seemed always anxious to have the next 
word, and his prodigality of reminiscence and invention 
outdid most competitors. When any one really wished 
to state his case and to have his help, he was most punc- 
tilious and careful in his attention. On committees and 
in all the transactions of business he was the same. But 
in an ordinary company, or with an intimate friend, or 
in his own home circle, it was he who did the most of the 
talking. He had, however, a talent for silence, and in 
his own house usually spoke very little except at table. 
Often, too, in a walk he would be absorbed in thinking. 

Humorous as he was, he had a dread of the gift. He 
believed as firmly as Walter Bagehot that a sense of 
humour is a hindrance to practical success in life. To 
have an eye for the recurring comedy of existence might 
be a joy to the individual and sustain him among the 
labours and stupidities in the day's work, and might also 
be a joy to his friends. But in the daily calling it was 
a peril. If one with a real palate for comedy happened 
to be a clergyman, then he ran the greatest risk in his 
association with good people. 



290 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

He will be afraid to attend a religious meeting lest 
some worthy speaker having raised his audience to the 
highest pitch of pious expectation should topple over into 
an anti-climax^ as when one of the best of men enlarging 
upon the ubiquity of the Jew, and the consequent advisa- 
bility of making him a Christian, gave the following illus- 
tration: " I was recently at a funeral," he said with much 
unction, " and as I stood before the coffin I noticed that a 
man on the right of me was a Jew, and on the left of me 
was a Jew, and before me stood a Jew. But," he con- 
cluded cheerfully, " thank heaven it was a Christian 
corpse." Funerals will always be to the minister cursed 
with humour a double trial, because comedy lies so near 
tragedy, and the fountain of tears springs so near the 
fountain of laughter. It gets upon this poor victim's 
nerves when a neighbour whom he has seen from the win- 
dow coming along the street, round-faced and chirpy, 
enters the room with a long-drawn expression of dolorous 
woe as if in the hall he had whipped on a tragic mask, 
shakes hands with the undertaker instead of the chief 
mourner and sits down beside the minister, remarking with 
a sigh which stirs the atmosphere, " Very sudden and 
much missed; here to-day and there to-morrow." One un- 
happy clergyman still blushes with shame as he recalls an 
incident of his early days when in a northern city he was 
sent to take a funeral service in the kitchen of a working 
man's house. They sai; round him, eight Scots artisans, 
each in his Sunday black, with his pipe projecting from his 
waistcoat pocket, and his hat below his chair, looking 
with awful immovable countenance into the eternity. It 
seemed irreverent to speak to any of the graven images, 
but the poor minister required to know something about the 
man who had died, and so he ventured to ask the monument 



CONVERSATION 291 

next him in whisper what the deceased had been. Where- 
upon the figure answered with a loud^ clear voice, " I 
dinna ken mysel', for I juist cam here wi' a freend," and 
then addressing a still more awful figure opposite, and in 
an even more aggressive voice, " Jeames, what was the 
corpse to a trade ? " 

He used to quote Mr. Gladstone as a politician who 
had gained greatly by his lack of humour. 

Had Mr. Gladstone, for instance, possessed the faintest 
sense of the ridiculous amid the multitude of his rich and 
brilliant talents, he had not been able to address a crowd 
from the window of his railway carriage, to receive the gift 
of a shepherd's tartan plaid or an elaborate walking-stick, 
or if my memory does not fail me, a case of marmalade, 
until his impatient fellow-travellers insisted that the train 
should go on, and it departed to the accompaniment of the 
statesman's elegant peroration. But it was just because 
Mr. Gladstone could do such things, and was always in the 
most deadly earnest about everything, from the Bulgarian 
atrocities to the making of jam, that the British trusted 
him and hung upon his words. There are times when one 
loses heart and almost concludes that the conditions of 
tangible success in English life are these: to be well built, 
giving pledges to fortune, with a moderate stoutness; to 
have a solemn expression of face suggesting the possession 
of more wisdom than has been given to any single person; 
to be able to hold one's tongue till some incautious talker 
has afforded an idea, and to have the gift of oracular com- 
monplace. If to such valuable talents can be added an 
impressive clearance of the throat, there are few positions 
short of the highest to which their owner may not climb in 



293 LIFE OF IAN ^lACLAREN 

Church or St^^tc. 'Sir advice therefore to vouiiireT men is 
to congratulate themselves that by the will of Providence 
they have been cleansed from this dangerous quality, or if 
this be not their fortunate case, to hide the possession of 
humour behind a mask of sustained and impenetrable 
solemnity until they have made their fortunes, and then to 
give it play as the foolish freak of a rich man. 

There was an element of seriousness in all this. 
Watson severely controlled the expression of his sense 
of humour. He controlled it to the utmost of his power 
in the pulpit and in ecclesiastical courts, and it was 
only in the circle of his friends that he let himself go 
free. Even there he restrained rigorously his dangerous 
power of sarcasm. He was so successful in this that 
many who knew him intimately did not know how for- 
midable he could be in that way. He was the master 
of a deadly irony, but he was wont to say that tlie 
power of irony was one which could never be employed 
to any good purpose by a Christian minister. Occa- 
sionally he had great provocation, and he knew well 
that he had the use of a weapon which would punish 
his assailant, but he deliberately kept silence. Few if 
any knew *' the weight of his terrible hand." Only on 
rare occasions, and in the security of confidence, would 
he sometimes show what his power was in tliis way. 

It was the humour of the Scot in which he was most 
at home. EngHsh fun he dehghted in, and would say 
that it had lent a certain flavour of geniahty to private 
life in this country, and had saved public life from 
rancorous bitterness. He would declare that in his pro- 



CONVERSATION 29B 

fesslonal experience he had never known trouble in a 
house where the father chaffed his sons, and the sons 
teased their father. He frequently expressed his ad- 
miration for Punchy and its long tradition of purity 
and dimity. " I dare to say that we ought to be 
thankful for the services our master caricaturist has 
rendered to the amenities both of public and private 
life." He had a delight in the captivating, irresistible, 
unexpected, unreasonable way of Irish drollery. Mrs. 
Watson's uncle. Sir Samuel Ferguson, the eminent Irish 
poet and scholar, was a man in whose society he particu- 
larly delighted, and from him he learned much. Irish 
drollery, he would say, was more captivating, more un- 
expected, and more unreasonable than anything else on 
the face of the earth: " If the just and honourable, but 
perhaps also over-sensible and somewhat phlegmatic 
persons who have in recent times had charge of Irish 
affairs, and have been trying to unravel the tangled 
skein, had appreciated the tricksy sprite which inhabits 
the Irish mind, and had made a little more allowance for 
people who are not moved by argument and the multi- 
plication table, but are touched by sentiment and ro- 
mance as well as vastly tickled by the absurdity of 
things, they might have achieved greater success, and 
done more good to a chivalrous, unworldly, quick- 
witted, and warm-hearted people." 

In the matter of Scottish humour he drew a sharp 
contrast between the Highlander and the Lowlander. 
The Highlander is impulsive, imaginative, gallant to a 
fault, regardless of consequences, pure in life, courteous 
in manner, chivalrous in ideals. He is at home in the 



294 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

world which is dying, and makes the best of raiders and 
of fighting soldiers, as he is the most loyal of clansmen 
and the most faithful of friends. But he has been the 
child of beaten causes, and of dark moods, dwelling 
under the shadow of the mountains and by the side of 
sea-lochs in a country of wreathing mists and weird, 
lonely moors. The Lowlander is self-controlled, far- 
seeing, persevering, industrious, with a genius for the 
accumulation of money. Watson would tell of a gen- 
tleman in the west-end of Edinburgh who was accus- 
tomed to ask a number of the poorer students from the 
University to the evening entertainment at his house 
that they might see what was done in the higher levels 
of life and be better prepared for their place in the pro^ 
fessions. At one of these solemn and improving func- 
tions a Highlander and a Lowlander met upon the 
stair. 

" Angus," said the Lowlander, " hoo are ye gettin' 
on? I'm daein' fine. The girl I have appears to be 
greatly pleased with me, and she's no ill-lookin'." One 
may safely conclude from what one knows of the man- 
ner of a Scots country lad that he had sat upon the 
extreme edge of his chair all the evening, and had 
hardly uttered a word, and that the poor young woman 
had been bored to death. But there was in him the 
imperturbable and abounding satisfaction of the Low- 
land Scot which makes him impervious to rebuffs, and 
in the long run carries him to the place where he would 
be. " Jock," said the Highlander, " the young lady 
who wass so good as to speak to me, and whom I am 
desiring to serve, asked me get her what she called 



CONVERSATION 295 

* blackmange.' I am willing to do her bidding, and 
would be ready to go anywhere and take that black- 
mange from any man who hass it. But I do not know 
what it is. I would not be saying that to the young 
lady, but I am feeling very sore in my heart that I can- 
not get her the blackmange, and, Jock, I wish to heaven 
I was outside this house with honour to myself." 

The humour of the Celt is an immovable and drawn- 
out waggery which he tastes without a smile, and of 
which one might suppose he was unconscious. 

"Who had this place last year.?" asked a Southern 
shooting tenant of his keeper. 

" Well," said Donald, " I'm not denyin' that he wass 
an Englishman, but he wass a good man whatever. 
Oh, yess, he went to kirk and he shot very well, but he 
was narrow, very narrow." 

" Narrow," said the other in amazement, for he 
supposed he meant bigoted, and the charge was gen- 
erally the other way about. " What was he narrow 
in?" 

" Well," said Donald, " I wiU be tellin' you, and it 
wass this way. The twelfth [the beginning of the 
grouse shooting] wass a very good day, and we had 
fifty-two brace. But it was warm, oh ! yess, very warm, 
and when we came back to the Lodge, the gentleman 
will say to me, ' It is warm,' and I will not be contra- 
dicting him. Then he will be saying, ' Maybe you are 
thirsty,' and I will not be contradicting him. After- 
wards he will take out his flask and be speaking about a 
dram. I will not be contradicting him, but will just 
say, ' Toots, toots.' Then he will be pouring it out, 



296 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

and when the glass was maybe half full I will say, just 
for politeness, ' Stop.' And he stopped. Oh ! yess, a 
very narrow man." 

Another tenant was making arrangements for the 
coming winter before he went South, and told the keeper 
to get the woman who had looked after the Lodge the 
previous winter to take charge of it again. 

" You will be meaning Janet Cameron, but I am not 
advising you to have Janet this year. Oh, no! it will 
maybe be better not to have Janet this winter." 

*' Why, what was wrong with her? " And then with 
that painful suspicion of the Highlander which greatly 
hurts his feelings, " Did she drink? " 

" Janet," replied Donald with severity, " iss not the 
woman to be tasting. Oh, no! she is a good-living 
woman, Janet, and has the true doctrine, but I will not 
be saying that you should have her." 

" I see; so you and she, I suppose, quarrel? " 

" It iss not this man who will be quarrelling with 
Janet Cameron, who is his wife's cousin four times re- 
moved, and a very good woman, though she be a Cam- 
eron." 

" Well, ask her to take the Lodge, and offer her the 
same wages as last year, and a little more if that will 
please her, and tell me what she says." 

" It is not for wages Janet Cameron will work. Oh, 
no ! that iss not the kind of woman Janet iss, and it iss 
no use asking her, for she will not come." 

" Well," said the Englishman, getting nettled, " do 
as you are bid, and give her the chance at any rate, and 
tell me what she says." 



CONVERSATION 297 

" No, sir, It will be wasting my time going, and I will 
not be asking her." Then after a pause, " Ye would 
maybe not be knowin' that Janet iss dead." 

Does any one say with impatience why did he not 
tell that at once? If you can answer that question you 
lay bare the secret of the Celtic mind, so subtle that it 
dislikes statements of downright brutality and prefers 
to suggest rather than assert, as is seen in this story : — 

" Why, Hamish," said the Laird to a young fel- 
low whom he met on the road, " what are you doing 
here? Have you left the situation I got for you? " 

" It is a great sorrow, sir, to this man, but I could 
not be staying in that place, and so I have just come 
back, and maybe I will be getting something else to 
do." 

" Look here, I don't understand this," said the 
Laird. " Was the work too heavy, or did they not pay 
you enough wages? Tell me what ailed you at the 
place." 

^' I would be ashamed to complain of work, and there 
was nothing wrong with the wages, but it was just this 
way, and though I'm making no complaint, maybe you 
will be understanding. There was a sheep died on the 
hill of its own accord, and the master had it salted and 
ate that sheep. By and by there was a cow died sud- 
denly, and we did not know what was wrong with her, 
but the master had that cow salted and we ate her. 
And then the master's mother took ill and we were feel- 
ing very anxious, for we will not be forgetting the 
sheep and the cow. And the master's mother died, and 
I left." 



298 LIFE OF lAX MACLAREN 

You cannot, ho would say, got a right answor from 
a Highlandor. A distinguislioci Highland ministor who 
undorstood his race through and through dosirod to 
know whether a certain candidate for a parish had ap- 
proved himself to the people, and was likely to bo ap- 
pointed. He called upon one of the religious worthies 
of the district, being perfectly certain that if he found 
out what he thought he would have the answer. Dun- 
can knew quite well why the minister had come, and the 
minister knew that Duncan knew, but they talked on 
the weather and the crop, and the last heresy case, and 
the spread of false doctrine in the Lowlands for half 
an hour. 

After that they came as it were by accident on the 
name of the candidate, and Duncan simply cov- 
ered him with praise. The minister knew that that 
counted for nothing. A little later the ministor said to 
Duncan, ** I would like to have your mind about that 
young man,*' — ^liis mind, observe, being very different 
from his speech. Then Duncan delivered himself as 
follows : — 

" Yesterday I was sitting on the bank of the river, 
and I was meditating when a little boy came and began 
to fish. He was a pretty boy, and I am judging was 
very well brought up. He talked very nicely to me, 
and had the good manners. He had a very nice little 
rod in his hand, and he did not fling his line badly. It 
was very pleasant to watch him. But it was a great 
pity that he had forgot to put a hook on the end of the 
line, for I did not notice that he caught many fish, but 
he was a very nice boy, and I liked him very much. Ancl 



CONVERSATION 299 

It is a great mercy that we are getting good weather 
for the harvest, for we are not worthy of such goodness 
with all our sins and backslidings." 

Then the minister knew that the candidate would not 
get the parish, but Duncan was entitled to say that he 
had never mentioned the candidate's name, or said a 
single word against him. 

He held that the Lowland Scottish mind was austere 
and restrained even in its humour. The helplessness of 
men In the hands of the almighty and Inscrutable pow- 
ers Is always present to the Scots mind, and is a check 
upon gaiety. Any extravagance of speech or any per- 
missible satisfaction with success Is called a tempting of 
providence, the underlying thought being that if we 
walk humbly and quietly the unseen powers will leave us 
alone, poor creatures of a day, but if we lift our little 
heads and make a noise, the inclination to strike us down 
Is irresistible. The Scotsman has a sombre delight In 
funerals. 

" Peter," says one mourner to his neighbour at the 
tail of a walking funeral, " div ye see Jamie Thompson 
walking in the front, side by side wi' the chief mourner, 
and him no drop o' blood to the corpse.^ " 

" Fine I see him, a forward upsettin' ambeetious 
body, he would be inside the hearse If he could " — the 
most awful and therefore the most enviable position for 
a sober-minded Scot. 

According to the Scots idea It is more profitable to 
go to a funeral than to a wedding, and anything that 
would detract from the chastened satisfaction of such 
an occasion is deeply resented, and the following conver- 



300 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

satlon between a dying wife and her husband would 
only be possible in Scotland : — 

" I've been a very guid wife to you, John, a' thae 
years ? " 

" I'm no denyin', Jean, ye havena been a waster ; I'll 
admit ye hae been economical, and verra attentive to 
the calves and hens." 

" Ye'll no refuse me, then, my last request? " 

" I will not, Jean, if it's reasonable, but will hear it 
first." 

" Well, my mither has taken a terrible notion o' 
gaein' to the funeral, and I canna get her off it. Noo, 
John, will ye promise to hev her wi' ye in the first 
coach? " 

" Oh, wooman, ask somethin' else, I canna do 
that." 

" But, John, I'll never ask anything else o' ye ; ye 
micht pit up wi' her juist for my sake." 

" Weel, Jean, if ye put it that way I suppose I maun 
agree, but I tell ye plainly ye've spoiled the pleasure of 
the day for me." 

As he thought, there was no humour so dry and 
stringent with such a bite upon the palate as that of 
Scotland, and one of his grimmest examples was this. 
An unhappy Scot was condemmed to death after a care- 
ful trial for the murder of his wife under circumstances 
of considerable provocation, and the verdict was no 
doubt a just one. There is something good, however, 
in every man if you walk around him long enough to 
find it, and his Counsel was so much interested in his 
client that he visited him in the condemned cell. 



CONVERSATION 301 

" There is no hope, Robertson, of a reprieve," said 
the advocate frankly, " and you know you don't deserve 
it. But if there's anything else I could do for you, 
just tell me." 

" Well," said Robertson, " I count it very kindly to 
give me a cry like this, and if ye could get me one thing 
I would feel easier on the occasion " — which was a 
rather felicitous name for the coming function. " Could 
ye get me Sabbath blacks, for I would like to wear 
them." 

" Well," said the advocate, " I daresay I could, but 
why in the world, Robertson, do you wish to wear your 
Sabbath clothes for the . . . occasion.? " 

" I thought may be you would see that for yourself, 
sir, just as a mark of respect for the deceased." 

A favourite tale of his was about one of the most 
characteristic ministers of the Scottish Church, Dr. 
Norman Macleod, who was a friend of the whole nation. 
Workingmen turned to look at him as he went down 
the street saying one to the other, " There goes Nor- 
man, he's looking well the day." A minister in the next 
parish to that of Dr. Macleod was sent for to see a 
workingman who was dangerously ill. After he had 
visited him in his bedroom he came into the kitchen to 
have some conversation with the man's wife. 

" Your husband is very low ; I hope he may be spared. 
I am afraid it's typhus fever." 

" Ay, ay," the wife replied with mournful pride ; 
" it's no ordinary trouble." 

" I didn't know your husband's face, and I didn't 
want to ask him questions. Do you attend my church.'' " 



302 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

" Na, na," with a fine flavour of contempt both 
for the kirk and the minister, " we gang to Nor- 
man's." 

" Well, that's all right, you couldn't go to a better. 
But why did you send for me? " 

" Losh, bless ye, div ye think that we wud risk Nor- 
man wi' typhus fever ? " 

Another was a tale of a dull Scottish village where 
on a dull morning one neighbour called upon another. 
He was met at the door by his friend's wife, and the 
conversation went thus : — 

"Cauld.?" 

'' Ay." 

" Gaen to be weety [rainy], I think." 

" Ay." 

*' Is John in.?" 

" Oh ay, he's in." 

"Can I see him.?" 

" No." 

" But 'a winted to see him." 

" Ay, but you canna see him. John's deid." 

"Deid.?" 

" Ay." 

"Sudden.?" 

" Ay." 

" Very sudden .? " 

" Very sudden." 

" Did he say onything about a pot of green paint 
before he deid ? " 

This brought to his mind a passage from Shake- 
speare, which was so specially dear to Walter Bagehot. 



I 



CONVERSATION 303 

Shallow. Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, very sure; 
death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all; all shall die. 
How a good yoke of bullocks at Stamford fair? 

Silence. Truly, cousin, I was not there. 

Shallow. Death is certain. Is old Double of your town 
living yet? 

Silence. Dead, sir. 

Shallow. Dead! See! See! A drew a good bow — 
and dead! A shot a fine shoot: John a Gaunt loved him 
well, and betted much money on his head. — Dead! A 
would have clapped i* the clout at twelvescore; and carried 
you a forehand shaft a fourteen and fourteen-and-a-half, 
that it would have done a man's heart good to see. How a 
score of ewes now? 

Silence. Thereafter as they be; a score of good ewes 
maybe worth ten pounds. 

Shallow. And is old Double dead? 

The point in both is the strange mixing of the things 
of eternity with the things of half a minute. 

One of his favourite stories before his last journey 
to America was one which illustrated the imperturbable 
gravity of the Lowland Scot and the humour of the 
tourist Englishman. 

Genial Englishman (as the collector punches his 
ticket), " Oh, I say, come now, you've no right to dam- 
age my property. Eh, what ! I paid for that ticket." 

Collector (after a long pause). "Ye didna pay 
for the ticket — ye paid for yer hurl, and ye're gettin' 
yer hurl." 

Of Watson's continual and brilliant talk about litera- 
ture, religion, and politics, I can attempt no reproduc- 



304 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

tion. His literary hero was Sir Walter Scott, for 
whom his admiration was almost unbounded. He had 
his criticisms to make, and he held strongly that Scott 
was not fair to the religion of the mass of the Scottish 
people. He declared that with almost no exception 
Scott introduced clergymen of the Scottish Church in 
names suggestive of fanaticism and ridicule, Kettle- 
drummle, Poundtext, Mucklewrath, or Blattergowl. If 
Scott had been writing about the Roman Catholics of 
a district of Scotland, and introduced them as Father 
Singmass or Father Hocus Pocus, this would have been 
called insolence and bad taste, and it was equally inso- 
lent to name Protestant ministers as he named them. 
When it was argued that Jeanie Deans was the flower 
of Scottish religion, and that the disputation in The 
Abhot between the champions of Catholicism and Prot- 
estantism gives Scott's real mind, he refused to change 
his view. He thought also that Scott had no under- 
standing of the Highlanders ; that Scott's Highlanders 
were absurd, transpontine, and stagey. There was noth- 
ing of the bewitching and lovely mysticism of the High- 
lands in Scott. However, he would say that when Scott 
confined himself to strictly Scottish life he never once 
went wrong. His chief triumph was Bailie Nicol Jar- 
vie; his failure was Helen Macgregor. Next to Scott 
in his talk came Burns, the poet of the Scottish people. 
On the ethical questions involved he took a moderate 
view. He thought that so far as the Christian Church 
had endeavoured to shield the purity of the family, and 
to bring home to man the absolute folly of supposing 
that moral laws could be broken without punishment, 



CONVERSATION 305 

she had the poet's support, his example, his penitence 
on her side. Where the Church had possibly erred so 
far as she had touched this great man had been in her 
ignoring the fact that he was beyond most poets the 
poet of the people, for whom the Church lived, for 
whom the Church must suffer, and whom the Church 
must continuously serve. She did not sufficiently em- 
phasise the fact that Bums had done more than any 
man in Scottish theology or Scottish literature to ex- 
pose and kill and blast and carry for ever away every- 
thing unreal and hypocritical. 

He kept himself well up in current literature, and 
was highly appreciative of his contemporaries. Most of 
all he appreciated Rudyard Kipling, whose poems he 
use to read and repeat with infinite zest. Mr. Kipling 
was dangerously ill in New York during Watson's sec- 
ond visit to America, and Watson wrote : " The lamen- 
table news that Rudyard Kipling is in danger of death 
comes with a shock of grief to a fellow-countryman and 
a reading man. Almost since the beginning of his 
career I have read every word he wrote, and have found 
in his words an inspiration beyond that of any living 
novelist. He deals at first-hand with the half-dozen 
passions which mould human nature, and always with 
insight and nobility. His death, which may God forbid, 
would in my humble judgment deprive English letters 
of our greatest name, and England of her real poet- 
laureate." To this view he always adhered. 

Of his views on theology and the Church I have 
already written. He was passionately convinced that 
in proportion as the Church made Christ central in her 



306 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

teaching and in her Hving, in that proportion she would 
grow and prevail. He earnestly sympathised with all 
forward movements for the Christianising of the people, 
but he was steadfastly opposed to the cheapening and 
degradation of Christian work, and resolutely firm in 
holding and preaching the Deity of Christ as defined in 
the Catholic faith. 

When he talked about politics he almost invariably 
expressed his passionate desire that the Conservative 
party, with as many Liberals as would join them, should 
deal effectively and generously with the condition of the 
people. He thought that the Conservatives should pro- 
mote measures for the creation of peasant proprietors on 
a great scale, and while preserving liberty and refusing 
to pauperise the people, they should generously acknowl- 
edge the claims of labour and provide for the necessi- 
ties of aged toilers. He held that it was in this way, 
and only in this way, that great social dangers might 
be averted. But in his last years he looked with interest 
rather than with hope on the immediate political future 
of England. In spite of his bitter disappointment over 
the South African war he remained a firm Imperialist. 

I should add that he very seldom talked about indi- 
viduals. When he did he almost invariably spoke of 
them with great kindness. His own preferences in 
preaching were all for the simplest and most real ex- 
pressions of experience. I have heard him single out 
Dr. Whyte, Dr. Parker, and Dr. Maclaren as three 
preachers of genius. In comparatively early years he 
was exceedingly impressed by certain Jesuit preachers 
whom he heard in Paris. On his holidays he delighted 



CONVERSATION 307 

to attend little chapels, and he enjoyed the homely ad- 
dresses of the lay preachers. One day a farmer was 
preaching in a Methodist chapel where Watson often 
worshipped, and at the conclusion of his sermon said, 
"Why do I preach Sunday after Sunday? Because I 
cannot eat my bread alone." Watson shook him 
warmly by the hand after the service, and said later, " I 
count that one of the greatest conclusions to a sermon 
I have ever heard — He could not eat his bit of bread 
alone." 

His correspondence was immense in his later years, 
and he received many anonymous letters which he made a 
point of reading. They often added to the hilarity of 
his breakfast-table. He would read with great zest 
epistles stating his faults in a frank, straightforward 
spirit, and not infrequently soldierly language without 
any fastidious restraint of charity or dehcacy. His 
anonymous letters of this kind gave him many an hour 
of simple enjoyment. There were others. He used to 
talk of one letter which made the sun shine on him when 
the sky had been grey. It was signed " Twenty-one," 
and he declared that the writer could have done few 
more human, cordial, and helpful things than the writ- 
ing of that letter. Another anonymous letter he re- 
ceived was one without a signature informing him that 
the writer had been so touched by the sentiment of one 
of his stories and was generally so much impressed by 
his remarkable literary ability, that he had placed 
£1000 to his credit with a London bank as a token of 
gratitude. As he never heard any more of this gener- 



308 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

ous gift he was reluctantly driven to the conclusion that 
the letter was written in a spirit of unworthy sarcasm. 
He paid great attention to begging letters, and hardly 
ever failed to answer them, though he would laugh over 
them. 

The charm of his talk largely depended on his in- 
sight into human character, its joys, its sorrows, and its 
weaknesses. This peculiar insight and the power of 
mimicry which he inherited from his mother, together 
with the tones of his voice and the changing expres- 
sions of his face, put him in the front rank of talkers 
and after-dinner speakers. In his home his conversa- 
tion was invariably cheerful. He had a perfect horror 
of all that was depressing, and kept away constantly 
from disagreeable subjects. 



CHAPTER XYIU 

THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL AND LATER 
CORRESPONDENCE 

From the foundation of University College, Liverpool, 
Dr. Watson gave the institution his whole-hearted and 
undeviating support. As his friend Professor Mac- 
Cunn has said, he had a wide outlook on national life 
and a profoundly civic spirit, and, moreover, recognised 
the value of University institutions as vitalising and 
humanising forces. He had a very lofty view of the 
place and of the responsibilities of a University in the 
life of the commonwealth. Accordingly he longed 
and laboured for the day when the University of Liver- 
pool should recognise itself, and be recognised as the 
University of the people, even as his own University of 
Edinburgh was recognised. Behind the University he 
always saw the scholar and the lover of books. As he 
himself loved books and felt all the fascination of a 
scholar's Hfe, he was able to sympathise with every one 
in earnest about study. 

But he was a student of life most of all. Was it not to 
the members of the Teachers' Guild within our walls^ and 
then to all the world in the opening chapters of his first 
book_, that he told the story of a Lad o' Pairts going from 
the parish school to the University with the eyes of the 
countryside upon him ? Was it not on the eve of an address 
to the students of a Western University that the end came 

309 



310 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

unexpectedly ? These are not things that are likely to pass 
from the grateful hearts of the students of this University. 
The world beyond our walls is lamenting the preacher and 
pastor, the man of letters, the citizen, the comrade. Be it 
ours to keep the memory green of the believer in books, the 
friend of the scholar, the lover of the student. 

This testimony from Professor MacCunn published 
in the University Magazine may be reinforced by some 
words from Vice-Chancellor Dale, who frequently at- 
tended Watson's ministry. Dr. Dale writes : — 

Common work brought us closely together. He became 
a member — and an active member — of the Executive Coun- 
cil of University College. He gave time and thought to its 
service. He used his influence in its behalf. In the move- 
ment that created the new University of Liverpool he took 
a foremost part. His experience and his sympathies gave 
him a place of his own midway between his academic and 
his lay colleagues. He understood the minds of both. He 
could interpret and he could reconcile. And when differ- 
ences arose, he never rested till the differences were settled. 
The University owes a lasting debt to his wisdom and his 
strength. But some of us owe him more than this. Though 
not a member of his church, I often attended the services at 
Sefton Park, as did many of my colleagues, and many of 
our students. For his heart was in the work that we were 
doing, and with the men and women who were doing it. A 
new University in a great city, however staunch its friends, 
has an uphill fight. He helped us in many ways — notably 
by the place that he gave to the University in public prayer. 
For whatever men have learned to pray for, they will soon 
learn to love and to serve. His preaching, too, when he 



THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL 311 

was himself, was singularly helpful. He was in touch with 
life. He knew what work was, and its weariness; the 
despondency that comes of baffled aims; the wrestling of 
the soul with mysteries. His sympathy was the sympathy 
of the strength that understands weakness, not of the weak- 
ness that would be strength. It had a touch of sternness — 
of austerity. But it braced one as the moorland wind 
braces ; and at the heart of it was the peace of the sea. 

Through the kindness of Dr. Dale I am able to give 
some letters which passed between him and Dr. Watson. 

TO VICE-CHANCELLOR DALE 

August 17th, 1903. 

My dear Dale, — While on my wanderings I came across 
the name of the Council of the New University, and I note 
that almost the only ambition I have had of late years, to 
be a member of the Governing Body of an Institution for 
which I have long been striving in my sphere, has been dis- 
appointed, and one of my last illusions that I might have 
done something to popularise the University idea among 
the people has been dispelled. 

It would be foolish for me to complain of a choice which 
has secured for the Council men of greater academic ability 
and more pronounced popular power, and I accept the 
decision which finally dismisses me from University work, 
but I wish to offer a remonstrance on one feature of the 
composition of the New Council. 

While there is not on it a representative of the Noncon- 
forming clergy of the district, and yet Nonconformists 
have not been the worst friends of University College, the 
Bishop and three Church of England clergymen have been 
included, and altho' I would not for a moment undervalue 



Sl^ LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

the help given to the recent effort by any one of the Angli- 
can clergymen, I do not know that the Church of England 
has been conspicuously zealous in the establishment of the 
University of Liverpool. 

My practical reason, therefore, for writing this letter is 
not to question the wisdom which excluded one of the 
members of the old Council, which took the first step to- 
wards the New University, for it goes without saying that 
the most influential names ought to be chosen, but to sug- 
gest that when the opportunity occurs some representative 
Noncomformist clergy should be added. I will only add 
that when the time comes such a man can be found in Mr. 
Watson of Claughton, a man admirably suited both by his 
culture, his zeal, and his eloquence to be a member of the 
body on whose personality so much depends, if the Uni- 
versity is to be made a power in the city and among the 
people. 

I am sending a formal letter resigning my position on 
the University Committee if that body now exists, or I 
remain a member. — Yours faithfully, John Watson. 



TO THE SAME 

August 25th, 1903. 
My dear Dale, — Had I not written at once I should not 
have written at all, for now I care nothing about the mat- 
ter. I was put into the Church by my mother, I preferred 
a country life or the army: My promotions were all un- 
asked: NicoU made me write: the Moderatorship was 
forced on me, and taking it was a big mistake : I have been 
cursed with the lack of ambition or if you like laziness. 
So I was rather pleased to find myself keen on the Uni- 
versity matter, and fanned the flame: but now the flicker 



THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL 313 

has died out, and I am content that L. or any other man 
should be in my place. 

As it is, I beseech you to allow me to drop into the 
shadow, and indeed after writing you and after being 
dropped from the Council, I do not judge it expedient that 
I should be brought in by way of courtesy. 

But to turn to the larger question, and let us not speak 
again of the other, I hope that you will not think me a bit- 
ter sectarian when I urge that one Nonconformist clergy- 
man should sit on the Council, and I venture again to bring 
Watson before you, for he is quite the right man, and his 
nomination as a quite new minister would have a different 
complexion from offering one who had been asked to leave 
the Council for reasons of policy which were entirely rea- 
sonable, and then was passed over when there was an op- 
portunity of restoring him, in favour of a man with no 
claims or even sympathy. You will see, I think, that it is 
not in such circumstances that I could accept office, but I 
pray you not to feel concerned for me since any sense of 
injustice I may have foolishly felt has faded into satisfac- 
tion that I am set free by no act of mine from what I know 
would have been an arduous labour to me. 

With many thanks for your kindness, yours faithfully, 

John Watson. 



TO THE SAME 

October Qth, 1903. 
Dear Mr. Vice-Chancellor, — I beg to acknowledge 
your letter of the 7th, and I accept with much pleasure the 
seat on the Council of the University of Liverpool which 
the Council have done me the honour of inviting me to take. 
— Believe me, yours faithfully, John Watson. 



SU LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

TO THE SAME 

January 5th, 1904. 
Dear Dale, — For ten days I have been in the grip of a 
most incapacitating cold, with much chest oppression, and 
altho' I go to the pulpit I can't go elsewhere, so please 
excuse me at University Committees. 

With every good wish for the New Year for you and 
yours, yours wheezily, Hamish MacWheessell. 

TO THE SAME 

October 15th, 1904. 

My dear Vice-Chancellor, — I regret that owing to an 
engagement in Brighton I shall be unable to be present at 
the meeting of the Council on Tuesday. By-and-by, and 
when the pressure of business arrangements slackens, I 
should like to bring before the Council some suggestions 
for popularising the University among the people, with a 
view to the creation of University ambition. Perhaps we 
could talk the matter over and settle times and seasons. 

With every good wish for the Winter's work, yours faith- 
fully, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

March 7th, 1905. 
My dear Dale, — What I want to write about is a matter 
I think I mentioned to you, and in which Mr. M. very 
cordially agreed. Whether or not we are going to have 
a fabric Committee, it is important that there should be 
some man of practical experience and ability who shall 
make our buildings old and new his special charge. Of 
course he must also be a man fit to be a member of the 
Council of the University. Now I have such a man to put 
before you, perfectly suited to undertake this duty and to 



THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL 315 

join our Council. He would make the thing his special 
business, and I therefore am very keen to have him on the 
Council as soon as possible. There was something in his- 
tory called the Chancellor's nod — as I have come home 
from the gales, snow, rain and bitter discomforts of the 
Sunny South, with bronchial catarrh and lumbago, my 
memory is not strong — but at any rate will you kindly give 
the nod at the earliest possible date, and I will produce my 
man.'' — Yours coldly and immovably, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

October 6th, I906. 
My dear Dale, — I am a vagrant, and as I said to you I 
am ready to resign whenever you think fit. Please let me 
know to whom I ought to write. — Yours faithfully, 

John Watson. 



TO THE SAME 

October Uth, I906. 

Dear Mr. Vice-Chancellor, — It is now my duty to 
resign the position of a member of the Council of the Uni- 
versity of Liverpool, and I shall be obliged if you will 
place this letter before the Council. 

My only reason is that I shall soon be leaving Liverpool, 
and that I cannot therefore give any further service. 

In severing my connection with the University, I desire 
to acknowledge the courtesy I have ever received from my 
colleagues, and to express my warm goodwill for an In- 
stitution with which it was my high honour for a time to 
be associated. 

With every assurance of respect, I am, yours faithfully, 

John Watson. 



Bl6 LIFE OF lAN MACLAREN 

(Enclosed Xote) 

TO THE SAME 

Dear Dale, — I have enclosed what is called in commer- 
cial circles the " needful," with inevitable regret. 

Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday evenings of next 
week are hungering for the sight of your face. Say when, 
which soimds jovial. I am not, but solemn this evening. 

J. W. 

FROM VICE-CHANCELLOR DALE 

24f/j October IQOG. 

Dear Dr. Watson, — The Senate are unwilling to allow 
your resignation of your membership of Council to pass 
without expressing tlieir grateful appreciation of the 
services that you have rendered through many years to the 
University, and to the College out of which it sprang. To 
your advocacy and influence the success of the Univer- 
sity movement was largely due. And your wise and sympa- 
thetic counsel has done much to strengthen the University 
that you had helped to found. Nor can we forget your 
personal kindness, unstinted and unfailing, to every mem- 
ber of the L^niversity staff who came in contact with you. 
Some of us recall faith renewed and courage rekindled by 
your ministry. Each of us owes you a debt of his own; 
you have the gratitude and the affection of us all. 

I write in the name and on the instruction of the Senate, 
met on October 24, 1906. — Believe me, ever yours very 
truly, A. W. W. Dale. 

TO VICE-CHANCELLOR DALE 

October 26th, I906. 
My dear Vice-Chancellor, — The letter which you 
have written on behalf of the Senate and which you 



THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL 317 

have couched in such gracious terms, has touched my 
heart. 

It has been a just ground of pride to me that I have had 
a modest share in the administrative work of the University 
and the benefit of its scholars' friendship. 

Amid the daily demands of an arduous profession my 
leisure for the Arts, I dare not mention Science, has been 
very scanty, but if it has not been given one to make any 
addition to knowledge it is an honour to have assisted, even 
in a very slight measure, in building Westminster College, 
Cambridge, and establishing the University of Liverpool. 

My association with its distinguished teachers past and 
present has been an inspiration, and if in any way I have 
helped such men in their endeavours, surely I have not al- 
together failed. 

My thoughts will often turn to the University, and I 
pray that the blessing of the Eternal may ever rest on its 
teachers and students, on all its study and research. 

Will you convey to all the brethren of the Senate my 
warm good wishes, and believe me, yours respectfully and 
gratefully, John Watson. 

TO PRINCIPAL OSWALD DYKES 

October 26th, I906. 

My dear Principal, — When any little honour comes my 
way, I count you so true a friend that I wish you to know 
of it, and especially when it is of an academic nature. 

As you may be aware I have had a good deal to do with 
University College, Liverpool, and the University into 
which the College passed. Lately I resigned my position 
in the Council of the University which is the governing 
body, and my colleagues with whom I have been long as- 
sociated passed a too generous resolution. 



318 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

What however has taken me altogether by surprise is 
that the Senate, of which of course I was not a member, 
altho' I was on very intimate terms with many of the Pro- 
fessors, has also passed a resolution, which has both greatly 
touched and encouraged me, for that a body of men so 
varied and so distinguished should have thought so well of 
me, proves I have not altogether failed in my academic 
service in Liverpool. John Watson. 

TO W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 

Jan. 6th, 1904. 
We shall have to fight to the death for non-sectarian 
education, for Temperance, and for Free Trade. I am 
now at heart a Liberal, but of course I remain neutral as 
regards parties. 

TO THE SAME 

17 Croxteth Road, Liverpool, 18th February 1904. 

My dear Nicoll, — This is first of all to welcome you 
home and to say that we hope you have enjoyed your trip 
to San Remo. 

As I had to preach at Eastbourne last Sunday as well as 
address a congregational meeting, I snatched a holiday 
of four days with Mrs. Watson. It rained three days and 
blew half a gale all the four, but I had a little rest in not 
having to produce and it is all I am likely to get for some 
time, as the Bible Society are celebrating their Centenary 
in March, and I shall be speaking in London and half a 
dozen provincial towns, and have refused invitations to 
speak in twenty more. It is pleasant to know that when 
people want a spiritual and sound address on a religious 
subject they know where to go, and that when they want 
rationalistic and revolutionary orations attacking the foun- 



LATER CORRESPONDENCE 319 

dations of society they do not come to me. This is not 
boasting, far less Pharisaism, it is simply a modest state- 
ment of facts. 

I wrote to Miss Stoddart that I was half meditating a 
second article on the Next Revival, on which about sixty 
American Ministers have delivered themselves in a three 
months* symposium. I have changed my mind since. I 
don't believe in replying, and most of the criticisms were 
irrelevant, and none of them, that is unfavourable ones, 
faced the fact that the present evangelist does not reach 
the people outside the Churches, and secondly that the Old 
Testament Prophets gave a place to social righteousness 
which the evangelist does not. Both facts are suggestive, 
and it is no answer to beat me with a doctrine of the Atone- 
ment, so I shall leave the matter alone. Please say so to 
Miss Stoddart in the course of those consultations on the 
slope of Mount Olympus which the herd of common people 
on the plain can only imagine. John Watson. 



TO THE SAME 

17 Croxteth Road, Liverpool, 11th March 1904. 
My dear Nicoll, — I have just reached home after a 
toilsome week, working all Monday with the Bible Society, 
and speaking at their big meeting in the evening, going 
down on Tuesday morning to Newcastle, and reading a 
paper to the Free Church Council — during which the Pro- 
Boers interrupted me, but I modestly think received no 
change from your aflflicted friend, and never interrupted me 
again — speaking at a Church on Wednesday evening instead 
of Monro Gibson, who has got sciatica or delirium tremens, 
I can't remember which, moving on to Sheffield yesterday, 
and haranguing a huge gathering on the Bible Society, and 



820 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

coming home to face the correspondence from all quarters 
and on all subjects. 

I rather enjoyed speaking at the Mansion House and 
had a fairly good time; his Grace of Canterbury was very 
agreeable privately on Monday night, and so were all the 
Bishops I have been meeting lately, especially St. Albans, 
who is a very agreeable and shrewd man. By the way 
why is it Nonconformists are not more prominent in con- 
nection with the Bible Society? I seemed to be the only 
man taking any share of things, and I am going up and 
down Lancashire trying to do my duty in connection with 
the Centenary. The Church of England people give me 
always a most cordial reception, and I am told in the Com- 
mittee of Arrangements are very eager that I should be in- 
vited, which is very nice; but Nonconformists should do 
more to support this Society, or rather to be prominent in 
connection with it. 

The Council was I think successful at Newcastle, and 
Jowett preached one of the finest sermons I ever heard. 
The speaking on education was fair, but a little too excited. 

As regards the education decision I have my own ideas, 
but I did not give them. They are a little more thorough 
than those of the majority, and I do not believe there will 
be rest in the land till the State confines itself to secular 
instruction, and the Church teaches religion. 

TO THE SAME 

17 Croxteth Road, Liverpool, IQth March 1904. 
Dear Nicoll, — By the way I am thinking of publishing 
my Newcastle address, although I should like you to be 
oversman in the question. Many people are asking for 
copies. It seems to have created some attention, and the 
pro-Boers fell upon me tooth and nail in the Liverpool 



LATER CORRESPONDENCE 321 

papers virtually denying that I had ever said the same 
thing before, with the result that the Post published an 
extract from the sermon in the British Weekly of 1899 in 
almost identical words, which has rather amused Liverpool 
and made the pro-Boers wish they had left the matter 
alone. I am going out with the Bishop to Warrington on 
Monday and with Archdeacon Wilson, of Rochdale, to 
Bury on Tuesday for the Bible Society. When I spoke 
last Monday evening in Liverpool I do not think there was 
a Presbyterian on the platform except myself and very few 
Nonconformists of any kind. But there was a great plat- 
form, the Philharmonic Hall crowded to the door, and 
overflow meetings in another hall. Perhaps the compara- 
tive absence of Nonconformists from prominent places 
means nothing and I am doing what I can to represent that 
side of things. 

I was struck at Newcastle by the vigour and popular 
power of those rising Nonconformists, Campbell, Home, 
Lidgett, Dawson, Yates, and many others. 

TO THE SAME 

17 Croxteth Road, Liverpool, 9>\st May 1904i. 
Dear Nicoll, — It pleased me to have even a word with 
you when I was dazzled by that blaze of luminaries, and I 
had a pleasant talk with Jacobs, and was much pleased by 
Chesterton's head. I have been for a week in the Forest of 
Fontainebleau and never felt more in my life the mystery 
and benediction of a great forest. I went largely for Mrs. 
Watson's sake who has not been well, and I think it has 
done her a great deal of good. For myself I am again 
troubled with sleeplessness, which is very trying. It is 
needless to say that I can always sleep at the wrong time, 
as when listening to any fine conversation and I nearly 



LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

went to sleep at that dinner before Carr had finished. He 
is not a bad speaker, but he has no terminal facilities. — 
With kind regards, yours faithfully, John Watson. 

TO LADY GRAINGER STEWART 

June 9.1st, 1904.. 
Dear Lady Grainger Stewart, — Accept a line in haste 
with a table of letters before me. We thank you and the 
children for all your kindness. I greatly enjoyed my visit 
and the dinner-party, and preached so well under your in- 
spiration at North Shields that a thousand people were 
turned away in the evening, and the congregations stood at 
the open windows. I thought that I was Hugh Black, but 
the difference is that in a month at longest, if I were in 
North Shields permanently, the people would have plenty 
of room, but with him, they would be on the roof listening 
through the ventilators. — Yours affectionately, 

Hugh John Black Watson. 

TO W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 

17 Croxteth Road, Liverpool, 8th July 1904. 

Dear Nicoll, — Your letter gave me much pleasure be- 
cause it was written in your own hand, which I have not 
seen for a long time, and your writing has greatly im- 
proved. It is evident you have been attending one of those 
classes which teach you French in four lessons, or to write 
distinctly in either longhand or short in five. I like to see 
a man of your age steadily fighting with your faults and 
striving after better things. I am inviting offers for the 
letter from collectors because our house has been an hotel 
for the last week for Pans, and the family finances are 
running low. 

The Pans have almost driven me crazy partly entertain- 



LATER CORRESPONDENCE 323 

ing them, partly listening to them, and partly being intro- 
duced first to one Pan, who then introduces me to seventeen 
other Pans, and every one of the seventeen has a complete 
kitchen range behind him, till in pure absence of mind I 
shook hands with the venerable partner of my life and trials 
a few days ago with a mechanical grin and the mystical 
words " very glad to meet you, Mrs. Watson, hope you are 
enjoying our country." They say it was a very successful 
meeting. 

TO MRS. STEPHEN WILLIAMSON 

October Qth, IQOG. 

My dear Friend, — Just a brief sketch of our proceed- 
ings since we left your beautiful country home, before we 
settle down to the winter's work. 

From Glenogil the " partner of my joys and sorrows '* 
went to an old friend of my boyhood's. Lady Grainger 
Stewart's in Glenisla, while her man went to preach in St. 
George's, Edinburgh, to packed congregationjs, hundreds 
being turned away; then I joined my "helpmeet," and we 
had three pleasant days with the Stewarts. We motored 
to Tulchan deer forest and toured home by a high mountain 
road. Had a view of sunset on the Grampians, never to 
be forgotten; another day we ran down to Rossie Priory to 
call on the Kinnairds, with whom we ought to have stayed 
this year; Lady Kinnaird spoke faithfully on my conduct, 
but we have made it up with promises of good behaviour in 
the future. From Glenisla we went to Strathgarry, and 
there we visited Urrard House and saw the Burghcleres, 
whom I had met before, who were very kind, and have 
asked us, if we come back, to stay with them, and Blair 
Castle, where Lady Tullibardine and Lady Helen Murray 
took immense trouble and showed us everything outside 



324 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

and in. Many interesting people in the district were there. 
Thence ^Irs. Watson went home, and I to Dundee where I 
preached to two more crowds and lectured to a third. I 
stayed with the Lord Provost and his wife, nice people, and 
lunched at Glamis on Monday. The Strathmores are 
kindness itself. Lord Strathmore got out the ancient 
" Bear Drinking Cup " of which only a facsimile is shown, 
and having ordered up a rare wine from tlie cellar I drank 
their health in a touching scene. This I understood was a 
quite extraordinary honour. They all came down and gave 
us a great send-off. — Yours faithfully^ John Watson. 



CHAPTER XIX 
RESIGNATION OF SEFTON PARK CHURCH 

While Dr. Watson was still in the full flush of his 
power, he decided to resign the charge of Sefton Park 
Church. The news was received with universal amaze- 
ment. It perplexed the public as much as Dr. Chal- 
mers's resignation of his work in Glasgow astounded 
his contemporaries. It seemed as if a great post was 
to be abandoned and a great work relinquished long be- 
fore the time. That so powerful and energetic a figure 
should suddenly pause in the career shaped for him at 
the height of a success over which not the faintest 
shadow seemed to have come, seemed inexplicable. But 
it was the determined will of Watson to make this 
change, and he never seemed to have any doubt as to 
the wisdom and necessity of the step. He determined 
to shake himself free of labours and cares to which he 
no longer found himself equal. Like Chalmers, he held 
that it was impossible for him to combine a due attention 
to his sermons with the innumerable calls of his per- 
sonal and pastoral work. Even his most intimate 
friends wondered. But the strain of his various toils 
began to tell upon him. His family observed that after 
the year of his Moderatorship he was never the same 
man again. He suffered much from insomnia; he was 
often nervous and anxious ; and though in public the old 
buoyancy stiU characterised him, at home he often 

325 



S^6 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

showed unmistakable signs of fatigue and depression. 
Also he had always held that twenty-five 3'ears of such 
a church as that at Sefton Park were enough for any 
man. He had observed that many ministers who re- 
fused to resign at the natural period marred their pre- 
vious work, and lived in a delusion. He was resolved 
that no one should say of him that he had outstayed his 
welcome. In his humility Watson fancied that his at- 
tractive power was decaying, and that if he continued 
in his sphere the congregation would decline. He could 
not bear to think of this. I can see in the retrospect 
that he never anticipated for himself a long life, in fact 
he ever and anon gave expression to his Celtic pre- 
sentiment of early death. His life he would say was not 
to be a long one, and perhaps he was not unpleased to see 
it passing. He contemplated almost too early the 
softer fading aspects of our earthly years, the joy and 
rest and reunion of the world of hope. He had no 
thought of undertaking any other office ; he purposed to 
preach and lecture and to write books. He pleased him- 
self with the prospect of some quiet years in a place near 
London where he could be happy with his family and 
friends. The weight of responsibility was more than 
he could bear, and it was evident that his spirits rose 
whenever he thought about the prospect of relief. 

The Sefton Park conerregation understood their min- 
ister. They saw that he meant what he had said. 
Whatever could have been done to lighten his labour 
they were more than willing to do. But they came to 
see that this was not a practicable plan with a man so 
anxiously conscientious as Watson was. They did all 



RESIGNS FROM SEFTON PARK CHURCH 327 

they could in kindness to change his mind, but when 
they saw that his purpose was fixed, they made things 
as easy for him as they could. Watson was profoundly 
touched by their delicate sympathy. He found that the 
wrench of parting with them was even greater than he 
believed it would be. In fact some of us thought that 
he would never leave Liverpool. He gave them a year's 
notice of his intention to resign in order that he might 
help them in choosing a successor. Perhaps the highest 
proof that a congregation can give of their affection 
for a retiring pastor is when they ask him to help them 
in choosing a successor. There was some difficulty in 
discovering a successor, though the congregation acted 
with marked loyalty and unanimity. It was no light 
task to succeed John Watson. He found it necessary to 
remain in Liverpool longer than he intended, and he fre- 
quently took services in the church after his resignation. 
But in the end, all went well. Watson's work was 
magnificently recognised, and a successor after his own 
heart, the Rev. Alexander Connell, of Regent Square, 
London, was found and settled. The story of this period 
will best be told in Watson's own letters. 

TO W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 

Sefton Park Church, Liverpool, Sept. 8, 1904. 

Dear Nicoll^ — If I cannot call you one of my oldest 
friends, you are certainly one of my best, and I wish there- 
fore to acquaint you with an important decision which I 
have finally made during the quiet time in the country. 

On Sept. 30th I propose to tell my Session that at the 
end of Sept. 1905, when I shall have completed my quarter 



328 LIFE OF L\X MACLAREN 

of a century in Sefton Park Church, I shall resign mv 
charge. 'Sly reason for giving this early intimation to the 
elders is that my Assistant has left and various arrange- 
ments have to be made which would be affected by my 
future, that a sudden resignation would be unfair and 
might suggest wrong ideas to those who do not know the 
happy tie between me and my people, and not least that 
during next winter I may give them the opportunity from 
time to time without prejudice on either side of hearing 
some suitable men for the succession. 

I shall ask the elders to receive this announcement in 
confidence and to say nothing about the matter this year: 
in February of next year, when we hold our Congregational 
Meeting I shall review the past and tell the people. 

During spring they may make up their minds about my 
successor, and before the holidays the necessary steps to 
secure him could be taken. Then he should go for a holi- 
day in August and September, and I would fill the pulpit 
till the beginning of Oct. 1905, when he would enter on his 
ministry at the opening of the winter's work. Of course 
before he could be elected I should have formally to resign, 
but I could remain as locum tenens. This plan would 
preserve continuity and make no jolt in the Congregational 
history. But as regards details it must be as God wills: 
all I can do is to think out the matter with the set regard 
to the good of the congregation for which I have worked 
so hard and which has been so loyal to me. 

You will, of course, treat this as a matter of confidence 
till the time comes for the public announcement. But you 
have my plan and ideas. 

When I am free from Sefton Park I shall not cease to 
preach: both Sundays and week days I hope to preach for 
years in all kinds of pulpits: I hope also to do some liter- 



RESIGNS FROM SEFTON PARK CHURCH 329 

ary and theological work. And I shall have leisure to read 
and to " make my soul." 

For some time I have found the pastoral work and or- 
ganisation hard: my yearly visitation began in April and 
will not be finished till November, and has taken all my 
spare time, and the Guilds, etc., etc., do not find me as 
energetic or as fertile with addresses as once I was. And 
I am convinced that a pastor is as necessary as a preacher 
for a congregation. . . . — Yours faithfully, 

John Watsox. 

FROM MR. ANDREW CARNEGIE 

October 23rd, 1905. 
My dear Friend, — Congratulations upon taking the 
" armour off," having long fought the good fight well. — 
Now spend a wise old age, with honour, love, abundance, 
troops of friends surrounding and loving you. 

My kindest regards, and every good wish, yours always, 

Andrew Carnegie. 

FROM MR. HALL CAIXE 

October 2^th, 1904. 

My dear Dr. Watson, — I see the startling announce- 
ment of your intended retirement, and I send you at once 
an expression of my sincere sympathy. I feel that, how- 
ever early in life it may seem to others, it is for you first to 
know what it is best to do. And I shall hope that tho' you 
are stepping out of the severe duties of your Pastorate, 
you are reserving your great powers for ever wider useful- 
ness. The world will not let you rest altogether. You 
will not wish to be idle. In the best sense you must die 
only in harness. 

With kindest greeting. Hall Caine. 



330 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

TO PRINCIPAL OSWALD DYKES 

October 26th, 1904. 

Dear Dr. Dykes, — Accept my sincere gratitude for 
your kind letter: it was the weight of the pastoral and 
organising work I could no longer carry, and I felt Sefton 
Park must not be allowed to fail. It is a great sacrifice 
for me in every way, and I hope, therefore, that I have 
not been selfish in my motive, however I may have erred 
in anything else. I hope to preach as long as I have a 
voice, where I can. 

When any suitable man occurs to you for Sefton Park, 
let us know: we have plenty of time to look round. 

In haste. — With affectionate respect, John Watson. 

The announcement made in 1904 evoked widespread 
sympathy, but few believed that Watson's career was 
really at an end, though all allowed that he had thor- 
oughly earned a long rest. Liverpool and his congre- 
gation took leave of him in a royal way. They were 
puzzled. When they heard him talk of a " sound, abler, 
and more modern minister," they reflected that there 
was not likely to be found any man abler, and that no 
modern light or modem gift had been absent from the 
Sefton Park pulpit. But after pleading their hardest, 
they wisely and kindly accepted the inevitable. At the 
semi-jubilee in February, 1905, Dr. Watson reviewed 
his ministry, and on March 13th, 1905, he gave in his 
resignation to the Presbytery. " I am worn out," he 
said, " and cannot go on. If in a year or two I broke 
down entirely the congregation might have the burden 
of an invalid minister. That would have fretted me 
and undone what I have already done. And therefore 



RESIGNS FROM SEFTON PARK CHURCH 331 

when Sefton Park was at its best, and before my health 
had utterly failed, I resolved to resign that this great 
congregation unburdened and unfettered might pass 
into the hands of my successor." It was on October 
15th, 1905, that he took his farewell of the Sefton Park 
people. Cordial tributes were paid by the Liverpool 
papers, the Post and the Courier. Sir Edward Rus- 
sell in a touching article bore witness to the place that 
Watson had held in the heart of Liverpool. " He will 
be greatly missed. We can all look forward to times 
when everybody will be saying : ' What would John 
Watson have said to that.?' 'How John Watson 
would have denounced this scandal ! ' ' How John 
Watson would have riddled that fallacy ! ' ' How 
John Watson would have exposed that piece of bigotry 
or fanatical zealotry ! ' And amid these more casual 
reflections will be much grave and sympathetic yearn- 
ing for a renewal of those inspiring suggestions of spir- 
itual sympathy with human needs and of spiritual re- 
sponses to eternal and divine requirements which have 
rendered John Watson's teachings the guides, the sug- 
gestions, the warnings, the encouragement of hundreds 
of his fellow-citizens for these twenty -five years past." 
A gift of £2600 was privately presented to him and 
acknowledged in a letter to Mr. T. Rowland Hughes. 
At a great civic function in the Town Hall, where the 
Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress (Mr. and Mrs. John 
Lea) received several hundred guests representing all 
ranks and classes, speeches were made by the Lord 
Mayor, the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rev. Dr. Aked, 
Sir Edward Russell, Vice-Chancellor Dale, Mr. Sam- 



332 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

uel Smith, M.P., and others. The Bishop of Liverpool, 
Dr. Chavasse, said that Dr. Watson's career was not 
yet done. He was still very far from even the youth of 
old age, and it was the prayer of many that he would 
be spared for many a year to do some of his best work 
by pen and word of mouth to help in the future, as 
in the past, the Church of Christ, the citizen life of 
England, and individual men and women. There was 
nothing to mar the occasion save the regret of parting 
which told very severely at the time on Watson himself. 
His own speech was full of modesty and tenderness. 
He asserted his immovable belief that there was no city 
like Liverpool with so broad a spirit in society, or with 
such persuasive examples of municipal patriotism. 

No man could know William Rathbone, that civic saint, 
or Charles Garret, in whom the evangelistic spirit of John 
Wesley lived, or Monsignor Nugent, the type of that pity 
for the poor which has been one of the chief glories of the 
Catholic Church, or Alexander Balfour, who illustrated the 
perfervidum ingenium of the Scot, or his dear friend 
Samuel Rathbone, one of the ablest and most modest men 
of his day, without being shamed out of selfishness, and in- 
spired to imagine and do something for the commonwealth. 
My Lord Mayor, you have done me many acts of kindness, 
and now you have added an act of honour of which I shall 
be proud while I live, and my sons after me. It is little I 
can do to show my gratitude, but if in years to come the 
place of my habitation be elsewhere and this city judges 
that I can be of any service, then I shall hasten to answer 
the call as a soldier rejoining his colours. And till death 
closes my lips I shall pray for the peace and prosperity of 
Liverpool. 



RESIGNS FROM SEFTON PARK CHURCH 333 

It soon became apparent that the Church at large 
was not prepared to allow John Watson's retirement 
from labour. The Presidency of the National Free 
Church Council was pressed upon him. He was sur- 
prised but gratified. As he had come to understand 
better the Free Churches of the country, he was more 
and more drawn to them. He preached many sermons 
on their great occasions, and was universally popular. 
He appreciated the great place of Nonconformity in 
modern England, and was well disposed to meet its rep- 
resentatives at closer quarters. Though he declined at 
first, feeling that the physical strain would be too great 
for him, he was ultimately led to accept. In his own 
Church, the Presbyterian Church of England, there 
was a great desire that John Watson should be retained 
in the regular ranks. His friends all knew that after 
a period of rest his great energies would revive, and 
they wished to find for him a sphere in which they 
would be exerted without exhaustion. Such a sphere 
seemed open when the revered Principal of Westmin- 
ster College, Cambridge, Dr. Oswald Dykes, intimated 
his intention, to retire. A minister who had worked as 
hard as John Watson could not pretend to the higher 
academic acquirements, but it was well known that 
though he deprecated all claim to learning, he was no 
mean authority on certain subjects, and particularly 
on Church History. Westminster College seemed to 
need a man who would bring the institution into closer 
relations with the scattered congregations of the 
Church. Dr. Watson had shown what he could do in 
this direction as Convener of the College Committee. 



334 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

It was desired also that the students should come into 
close relation with one who had been a great preacher 
and pastor. The Presbyterian Church of England 
needed him as a leader in a forward movement. He 
himself believed that the Church could do great things 
if wisely and boldly led, and he had the ear of England 
as no other, and of all Presbyterians he was the man 
who spoke to England. It was desired, therefore, by 
a large part of the Church that he should become Prin- 
cipal of the College in successsion to Dr. Dykes. Only 
a nominal salary could be paid, and it was not contem- 
plated that he should take full professorial work. 
There was opposition in important quarters of the 
Church, but on the whole the general feeling was 
strongly in favour of this step being taken, and it com- 
mended itself particularly to those who best knew 
Watson. 

At first he was wholly averse to the proposal. He 
was weary, and enamoured with rest. He shrank from 
accepting further heavy responsibilities, and he be- 
lieved that the climate of Cambridge would be unsuit- 
able to his wife's health. But gradually the idea 
seemed to attract him, and the reservations and the hes- 
itations slowly disappeared. Mrs. Watson herself, who 
had noticed her husband's great influence over students, 
was willing to acquiesce in the arrangement, and it 
seemed as if it held the promise of new vigour and po- 
tency in the Presbyterian Church of England. 

Dr. Watson was invited to deliver at Cambridge a 
series of lectures, and he chose as his subject a very 
favourite theme, " The Scot in the Eighteenth Cen- 



RESIGNS FROM SEFTON PARK CHURCH 335 

tury." The lectures were well received, and have been 
published since his death. He was stirred by what h<i 
saw. The preaching of Mr. Johnston Ross, the Pres- 
byterian minister at Cambridge, greatly moved him, 
and he reckoned him with Mr. Jowett as the foremost 
of the younger Nonconformist preachers. But he saw 
difficulties, which he thus expressed: — 

TO W. ROBERTSON NICOLL 

26th September 1905. 

As regards myself and the proposal which jou shadow 
forth I have the most serious difficulties — difficulties which 
seem to me insuperable. First I want to be free in order 
to write if I please, or study, especially in one period of 
Scots History, and to preach where I please when I am 
moved thereto, and to preach what I please, or rather what 
seems true to me, and to travel as I please. I do not mean 
to be an idle and useless man, but I do want to have some 
freedom after thirty-one years' regular and compulsory 
work. 

Next I have not the scholarly equipment for any Chair, 
although I could do something in Pastoral Theology or 
Christian Ethics, and possibly in Church History, with 
which I have a growing acquaintance. Neither Greek nor 
Hebrew criticism, nor pure dogma would I venture to touch. 
In my busy life I have not had the opportunity of pursuing 
systematic study, and I am therefore out of the running for 
a position which should be occupied by a scholar, and by a 
scholar I mean an expert. 

It is very good of you to offer to face the practical 
difficulty, but I am afraid it would be very serious. I 
doubt very much whether the staff would care for the in- 
troduction of a man whom they would with some justice 



336 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

regard as an absolute outsider, and I am sure that there 
would be extreme difficulty about the finance. What you 
propose would be the subject of committees and motions 
for the next five years. . . . 

There is another serious question and that is health, both 
with regard to my wife and myself. I do not think Cam- 
bridge would suit either of us, and I am sure it would not 
suit her, and that is a serious matter. . . . 

If you love me, come down for October 17th, when the 
Lord Mayor gives a public reception at the Town Hall in 
recognition of my twenty-five years' service to the city. 
This has nothing to do with the congregation, and is, I 
think, somewhat remarkable. He intends that it should 
encourage other men who besides doing their own work 
remember the Commonwealth, and it is, I believe, the first 
recognition of this kind given in our municipal history. I 
wish it had been given to my dear friends Monsignor 
Nugent and Charles Garrett, but Nugent has had a statue 
at any rate. 

But gradually these objections were borne down. 
Watson decided to recruit himself after the pain of 
parting from Liverpool by a tour in America, to which 
he looked forward with great eagerness. By the time 
he left he had accepted the Presidency of the National 
Free Church Council, and had also consented to be nom- 
inated for the Principalship of Westminster College, 
Cambridge. 

Before starting Watson fulfilled many public en- 
gagements, and on October 14th, 1906, he preached in 
Sef ton Park Church on the " Embassy of the Gospel," 
and introduced his successor, the Rev. Alexander Con- 



RESIGNS FROM SEFTON PARK CHURCH 337 

nell, saying : " While you will find your minister firm 
in the faith of Christ, he is not the man to shut his mind 
against any new hght God may give ; and while he will 
be sympathetic to the ancient customs of our worship, 
he is not the man to forget that even good customs may 
corrupt the Church." 

Among the many affectionate letters of farewell re- 
ceived by Watson I may quote the following: — 

FROM SIR EDWARD RUSSELL 

January 8th, 1907- 

My dear Watson, — ^We are looking forward with great 
pleasure to the happiness of being at your house, and hav- 
ing a good evening with you before your departure which 
itself is a sad event, not only to us in particular, but to all 
Liverpool. I received your letter with a deep feeling of 
the privileges of your friendship, which I have so long en- 
joyed. I note with delight your high appreciation of the 
co-operation I have sometimes been able to afford you, but 
it is really I who am the debtor, because having my duties, 
as I apprehend them, it is indeed always a satisfaction 
to support a man of insight and courage in public affairs, 
whether religious or secular. 

With our united regards, yours faithfully, 

Edward Russell. 

FROM PRINCIPAL OSWALD DYKES 

January 25th, IQOT. 
My dear Dr. Watson, — I saw your son the other day, 
who told me you were to sail on the 30th. I wish you and 
Mrs. Watson from all my heart a pleasant voyage, in spite 
of February gales, and on the other side a good time to 
your heart's content. And I also wish you a safe and 



338 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

certain home-coming, for I believe there is work for you 
yet to do in the old country, and nowhere a warmer wel- 
come or appreciation from your friends. 

Bless you for your generous, too generous words of 
kindness in this as in all your letters. The years before 
me cannot be numerous now, but if it please God they may 
not be unuseful or unpleasant, with health and a little 
strength. I shall not forget you and your wife in your 
absence, not for a day, for I value your friendship ex- 
tremely, and what is more I value highly your gifts and the 
service it is in you to render, God willing, to this Church, 
for which I have spent the best of my days, and which 
dwell where I may I cannot cease to love. 

God bless you, dear friend, you and yours continually. — 
Yours with respectful affection, J. Oswald Dykes. 

FROM FATHER HENRY C. DAY 

January 25th, 1907. 
Dear Dr. Watson, — I am deeply obliged to you for 
your very kind letter, but I will not accept the farewell yet. 
That must be delayed as long as possible, and would that 
the possible were very much longer. It will indeed require 
a very urgent call, and one of peremptory duty to prevent 
my seeing you off on Wednesday next, besides I am promis- 
ing myself the pleasure, if they will have me, of being at 
your farewell dinner on Monday. I need not tell you how 
much I shall feel your loss, and that of your family on 
merely personal grounds. I also feel very keenly the 
privations of the city, of your great and good influence. 
But enough of selfish repining. May wider fields have the 
advantage of your labour, and yourself an ever-increasing 
reward of success and of gladness. — Believe me to be, dear 
Dr. Watson, always yours very sincerely, 

Henry C. Day. 



CHAPTER XX 

LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, AND DEATH 

Dr. and Mrs. Watson sailed for New York on Jan- 
uary 30th, 1907. Two nights before the Presbyte- 
rians of Liverpool entertained them at a banquet at the 
Adelphi Hotel. In reply to the toast of his health, Dr. 
Watson said there ought to be most absolute liberty 
with regard to theories, but when they came to deal 
with facts which lay at the heart of our religion, 
which were the foundation on which the Church rested, 
and on which the souls of men rested for time and eter- 
nity, there we must be clear, we must be sure ; there we 
must stand with all our strength of mind and heart. 
He made no reference to controversies that were going 
on at present; he was not to be understood to criticise 
any teacher or thinker with imperfect information at 
hand. He welcomed every one who was looking at 
things with his own ej^es, and seeking to help his fellow- 
men in the clearer light. But he registered his convic- 
tion that our Church should stand or fall according as 
she went forth to the people holding the central faith 
fast, and preaching that faith clearly regarding the 
two great facts, the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ as 
the eternal Son of God and the virtue of the great sac- 
rifice which He accomplished on Calvary for the sal- 
vation of the world. When the parting came many 
prominent Liverpool citizens, including Mr. Alexander 



340 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

Connell and Mr. John Lea, were present to say good- 
bye, and it is certain that not one among them dreamed 
that this was the last good-bye. 

SS. "Baltic/' January 30th, 1907. 

My dear Mrs. , — I was much touched by the white 

heather, and by the message. The plant is now with some 
others in our sitting-room, for Mr. Ismay had us removed 
to a suite of rooms with the most delightful bathroom at- 
tached, beautifully furnished, and heated with electric 
stoves. This is the merchant prince way of travelling I 
suppose, and it is rather nice, because we have writing- 
tables, couches, electric lamps, arm-chairs, and so on. If 
only the sea is friendly we shall be very comfortable, but 
this is more than we can expect. 

Many saw us off, and we held a kind of reception in our 
rooms. As Liverpool disappeared and we remembered 
that it was farewell to the city of our habitation, a feeling 
of sadness came over us, for a chapter of our life is closed. 
May God forgive its sins, and accept its work. 

Whether we meet again or not, allow me to sign myself 
your friend, John Watson. 

It seemed to some of his fellow-passengers that Dr. 
^iS|i Watson was suffering from exhaustion and strain, but 
to others he appeared as buoyant as ever. The trav- 
ellers on arriving at New York were received by their 
host, Mr. Frank H. Dodd, of Messrs. Dodd, Mead and 
Co. Mr. Dodd tells me that during the time of his 
stay Watson seemed to have recovered all his old spirits. 
He preached twice for his friend Dr. Aked in Fifth 
Avenue Baptist Church, and great crowds were pres- 



LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, AND DEATH 341 

ent, and many were turned from the doors. He com- 
menced at once the course of sermons, lectures, and ad- 
dresses which he had undertaken. During his stay in 
Philadelphia he was the guest of Mr. Harold Peirce. 
Mr. Peirce has very kindly forwarded me some of his 
last letters and particulars about his journey. From 
these and from letters written home, I am able to give 
a fairly full account of his last journey. He had many 
engagements when he arrived in America, but his time 
was not filled up, and he accepted many additional invi- 
tations to lecture and preach, somewhat to the anxiety 
of his friends. So far as I can make out his course was 
as follows. At Philadelphia he preached, lectured, 
and delivered a course of addresses at Haverford Col- 
lege on the Religious Condition of Scotland in the 
Eighteenth Century. He was at Boston in the begin- 
ning of March. There he preached for Dr. Gordon in 
the Old South Church, lectured, and stayed a fort- 
night. He went to New York again on March 24th to 
fulfil an engagement. Then he returned to Philadel- 
phia, from which he took a tour in the West, lecturing 
in Winnipeg and returning through Montana, an ex- 
ceptionally long and trying journey. It was on Fri- 
day, April 12th, that he lectured in Winnipeg, and his 
last appearance was at Valley City, N. D., where he 
preached on Sunday, April 21st. He arrived at 
Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on April 23rd, intending to de- 
liver a course of lectures in the Iowa Wesleyan Uni- 
versity, but he was taken ill, and the end came on May 
6th. These details will explain the letters to his sons 
and the kind communications from Mr. Peirce. 



342 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

TO HIS SONS 
Philadelphia, February l^th, 1907. 

My dear F._, — It occurs to me that I might send to you 
a record of our tour in America, and then you could for- 
ward the letters to Freddie and to Harry. This would 
preserve a complete history and would save your mother 
and myself writing separate letters. Please get the letters 
back both from Cambridge and from the barracks and 
preserve them against our return home. 

To begin at the beginning, we had after the first day 
very rough weather lasting for five days, and the ship's 
log had North-west gale and South-west gale, heavy sea, 
stormy sea, head sea, cross sea, entered in day by day. 
The last day was good weather. You know what bad 
sailors your mother and I are, and yet I was never ill, and 
your mother was only ill I think once for half an hour, 
which proves what a good boat the Baltic is. She never 
rolled and only pitched a little, which was quite unavoid- 
able in the circumstances. We sat at the Captain's table, 
and several other people at the table we knew or they 
knew us, so we had pleasant companionship. We had lit- 
tle parties after dinner in our sitting-room, and you would 
have liked to drop in and see a distinguished member of 
the English Foreign Office, and a professor and a Scotch 
mill-owner and your father all smoking together and put- 
ting the universe to rights in the middle of the Atlantic 
with a north-west gale blowing. When we entered the 
river at New York, the ice was around us on every side, 
and it was piercingly cold. Every one had told us shock- 
ing stories about the custom house officers — how they would 
ask questions and open our boxes and confiscate our goods. 
As a matter of fact, they were most courteous. The officer 
who came on board before whom I signed my declaration. 



LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, AND DEATH 343 

asked me when I gave my name as John, whether I had 
any other name that began with '* I." Then we shook 
hands and he gave me no further trouble. I told him that 
all bad characters had several names because it enabled us 
to escape the police. When we had our luggage examined 
on the quay, the officer was quite delightful. He only 
asked us to lift the lid of the boxes and pretended to look 
at them, and he actually helped to fasten them up himself, 
a thing I am told which they very seldom do. Mr. Dodd 
was waiting for us, and we drove through banks of snow to 
his house in New York, where we received a warm welcome. 
But the excitement had begun before that, for four 
reporters interviewed me on the steamer and took your 
mother's photograph and mine on the deck. We were 
asked questions on every subject under the sun, and es- 
pecially what we thought of the Thaw trial. It is a dis- 
graceful trial going on in New York just now on which I 
passed no opinion. On Saturday evening I was rung up 
at dinner by one of the New York papers, who asked me to 
represent them at the Thaw trial and to write an article on 
my impressions, and they offered me any sum I liked to 
ask. This is thought to be the most impertinent thing any 
New York paper has ever done, and the paper that did it 
is the lowest down of the New York press. I had one 
luncheon with literary men at the Century Club in New 
York and a dinner party with bankers and clergymen. On 
Sunday the 10th of February, I preached to very large 
crowds in a New York church, hundreds being turned away, 
and the crushing was so great that a reserve of police had 
to be telephoned for from the station. On Monday among 
other things I went to the New York Hippodrome, where 
we saw some excellent horsemanship and the most beautiful 
coloured spectacle of Neptune's Palace below the sea I 



SU LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

have ever seen on tlie stage. On Monday evening I 
lectured in the Savoy Hotel to an appreciative audience. 
Every hour almost the telephone went at the house where I 
was living, and my likeness was taken in the house and also 
at a studio for the press. On Tuesday morning we came to 
Philadelphia and went to live in an extremely beautiful 
house in the country belonging to Mr. Peirce^ who you may 
remember was at our house about two years ago. He has 
the most beautiful library in construction I have seen in a 
private house, and is a great book lover. The country 
where we are living is covered with snow. Yesterday I 
had a glorious sleigh ride with a fine trotting horse. Since 
coming to Philadelphia I have preached once and lectured 
once, and I am to lecture again to-night at a college. I 
have also been at one dinner and one luncheon party. My 
photograph has been taken again here, and I have been 
interviewed about six times. Over against this interview- 
ing, however, I have met a number of distinguished Phila- 
delphia citizens, very interesting and very able men. This 
brings the record up to the present date,, and I will resume 
the history in another letter. . . . With our love to all 
three. — Your affectionate father, John Watson. 

TO THE SAME 

Philadelphia, February 26th, 1907. 
My dear F., — Since I wrote you last, I have been fairly 
busy and also received marked kindness. To-night, I de- 
liver the last of my course of Haverford lectures. I have 
also preached three times to two large congregations and 
one that was smaller. Of course we had a little blizzard, 
what is called here a " baby blizzard." I have also been 
out to some interesting social functions where I met a num- 
ber of very bright people, especially judges and other 
lawyers. The snow was rather heavy where we are living 



LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, AND DEATH 345 

and has been too soft for sleighing^ but we have had some 
good drives. Owing to the changeableness of the climate, 
I had an attack of hoarseness which was a new thing for 
me. I have now got over it. I am only afraid the fre- 
quent changes in temperature may make it trying for a 
speaker. I am told that singers suffer a good deal in the 
States. We are both well apart from this and your mother 
is enjoying herself. On Saturday we go to Boston and 
then we shall go out for a short lecturing tour. 

I suppose you have had my letter asking you to send an 
account of the sale and any news of that kind. Yesterday 
I saw the British Weekly and discovered that the opposi- 
tion to my appointment at Cambridge is very strong in 
London and I should think it is very unlikely I shall be 
sent there, so you must be keeping your ears open to hear of 
a nice place near London where we can live. Send letters 
always to the Lecture Agency, 6 Beacon Street, Boston. 

With our love, — Your affectionate father, 

John Watson. 

TO THE REV. R. C. GILLIE 

March ^nd, 1907. 
Dear Gillie, — We have had a most successful visit so 
far, I have preached to crowds, and twice to students, once 
men, once women. I have addressed a meeting of ministers 
on preaching with effect. I have delivered a course of 
lectures at Haverford College. I have lectured to two liter- 
ary societies. I have been dined by four clubs, where I 
met the most interesting men of letters, and I have seen 
some lovely houses full of books and art. Everything has 
been very delightful and inspiring. As I have been asked 
to deliver the annual address at many colleges I hope to see 
more than ever of academic life which may be useful to me. 

John Watson. 



346 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

FAMILY 

April 1st, 1907. 

This is to take up a letter I wrote to Frank some time 
ago, which described our proceedings up to Boston. There 
we were for a fortnight, and had a good reception, and met 
some nice people, we then separated, your mother went to 
stay with some New York friends, who took her to the 
country, and gave her a good time, and I worked here and 
there. After some wanderings I joined her on the 24th, 
preached to huge congregations in New York, and then 
went with her to stay with the leading editor at Phila- 
delphia, who gathered some literary men together, and we 
had a charming evening. We then visited a lady's college 
and a boy's public school in one of the most beautiful 
places in the States. I was much interested in the school. 
There were four hundred boys, and they go in for athletics 
very much, and are also good singers. They are well fed, 
with as much milk as they can face, and strawberries at all 
meals in summer. You see they all dine together, and 
there are no housemasters making money out of the boys. 
I lectured to them, and we stayed with the headmaster. 
Good Friday we spent at Philadelphia, and on Saturday I 
had a magnificent motor run, visiting Valley Forge, where 
Washington encamped for a winter in the crisis of the War 
of Independence. If the English General had followed 
Washington up after the battle, he could have scattered the 
American troops and closed the war, but he was either too 
fond of the gay society of Philadelphia, or he was, as some 
think, a sympathiser with the Americans, so he left Wash- 
ington alone and in the Spring the latter inflicted one de- 
feat after another on the British, and turned the tide of the 
war. 

We have now set out on a little tour in the West in which 



LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, AND DEATH 347 

we shall visit Winnipeg, and come down through Montana 
where there is very fine scenery. Then at the end of this 
month I am due at the University of Nashville for a course 
of lectures. When this reaches you one-third of our absence 
will be over, yet it seems a very short time since we left. 
We are wondering where we shall go on our return. Peo- 
ple say Cambridge, but I don't think so. . . . Whichever 
way it goes we shall have regrets. 

With our love. — Your affectionate father, 

John Watson. 

FROM HAROLD PEIRCE TO W. R. NICOLL 

Philadelphia grew fonder and fonder of him, for in addi- 
tion to delivering the Library Lectures at Haverford College, 
and preaching at various church services, he had been the 
guest of honour at several social functions, and had fre- 
quently met many people in the most informal way. He 
preached five times in the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, 
of which I am a member. He came to us the day before 
Ash Wednesday, and as our pastor was sick he took the 
service Ash Wednesday evening. From the text " What 
then shall I do unto Jesus who is called Christ," he 
preached a most solemn and earnest sermon which will live 
always in the memory of those present. Ten days after 
that he preached again for us, but the sermon that made the 
most impression on the community was the one he preached 
Easter morning. Early in March our pastor had died, and 
as a special favour to me he returned to my home the after- 
noon of Good Friday in order to preach on Easter and 
spent two or three days with us. He took charge of both 
services on Sunday, but that Easter morning he preached 
as I had never heard him preach, from the text " In my 
Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so^ I 



348 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

would have told you. I go to prepare a place for yoii. 
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, 
and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye 
may be also." As we recall that service we can almost 
believe, as my wife has suggested, that he was preaching 
his own farewell sermon. He sought to impress upon us 
the same as he had done many years before in the chapter 
on " The Continuity of Life " in The Mind of the Master, 
that the word mansions meant " rooms, stations, stages in 
that long ascent of life that shall extend through ages of 
ages," where we would simply tarry for a while prepara- 
tory to our going forward to still greater and more glorious 
work. 

He closed with two stories which must be quite familiar 
to 3^ou. One was that of " Blind ^largery " in The Vision 
of the Soul, the last story in His Majesty Baby. The 
other was the story of the old woman who was afraid to go 
to Edinburgh because she had to pass through a tunnel 
before reaching her destination, but as she drew near the 
tunnel she fell asleep, and on awakening found herself in 
the glorious sunshine beyond. From these and other 
stories he drew the most beautiful lessons regarding death. 
He made us feel it should not be dreaded but that it was 
simply the mode by which Christ takes us to Himself and 
places us where we can do greater and more glorious work. 
It was his last prepared sermon, for though he had used 
the framework before yet he wanted to deliver what he 
thought under our peculiar circumstances would be the ap- 
propriate message. Saturday, March 30th, was a glorious 
day. It was bright and warm and almost June-like. Ad- 
joining my place are the beautiful links of the Merion Golf 
Club, and so on that morning he walked several times over 
those links preparing this, his own farewell sermon. 



LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, AND DEATH 349 

To me his only address in Philadelphia comparable with 
this Easter sermon was the one delivered before the 
Presbyterian Social Union on the evening of February 25th, 
in which he so recounted his early experiences in the minis- 
try that we felt we had been taken into his confidence and 
made his close and intimate friends. All present went 
away feeling that never again was it likely that we should 
hear such a personal recital of trials and triumphs. 

This was the beginning of our acquaintance which 
ripened this year into close and intimate friendship. . . . 

I think the two addresses Dr. Watson most enjoyed de- 
livering were those in aid of the project for marking the 
final resting-place of Francis ^lakemie, the founder of or- 
ganised Presbyterianism in America, and that delivered 
before the Colonial Dames in Independence Hall. Rev. 
Henry C. McCook, D.D., the well-known writer and a man 
much beloved in Philadelphia, had purchased on his own 
responsibility, as the only way to make sure of the prop- 
erty, the farm in Maryland which had belonged to the 
Makemie family and where Francis Makemie had been 
buried. Last October or November I sent Dr. Watson the 
circular Dr. McCook had prepared in reference to this 
object, and Dr. Watson wrote me that it not alone met his 
entire approbation, but he would be glad to aid in every 
way possible. He called on and dined with Dr. McCook, 
who was too ill to leave his house. He entered at once into 
the project, and by his aid at a public reading such a sub- 
stantial sum was added to that fund that the project has 
become an assured success. Harold Peirce. 

Dr. Watson seemed to pass through the travels and 
adventures of the Northwest without injury, but when 
on a journey across the prairie he was verj suddenly 



350 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

caught with what appeared to be an ordinary sore 
throat. However, he went on to Valley City, N. D., 
where he delivered his last lecture and preached his last 
sermon. He was not well when he arrived, but showed 
his usual equanimity and patience. When he arrived he 
found that no room had been reserved at the hotel, and 
that the place was filled to overflowing. He found ref- 
uge in the house of Mr. William McKinney. Describ- 
ing his experience to his friends he said : " Why, the 
clerk just said, ' You see, we don't take in tramps 
here. You're not in our class at all.' " He lectured 
on Saturday, April 20th, and preached at a union 
service in the Armory Opera House. His sermon on 
Jacob made a deep impression. He never preached 
again. 

When he arrived at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, he was 
very ill, and the doctor called in declared him to be suf- 
fering from an acute attack of tonsilitis. At first he 
seemed to improve, but the fever was very high, and the 
physician found that he was suffering from tonsilitis 
and quinsy with complications, and declared that he 
must do nothing for at least three weeks. He suffered 
very much from insomnia, but still cherished the hope 
of being able to deliver his Nashville lectures. On May 
3rd his wife wrote : " This loathsome catarrh is now 
slowly departing by way of the ears. All this leaves 
him very weak. He is only now sitting up in his room 
for a few hours." On Sunday he again appeared to 
be improving, though swelling of the limbs and rheu- 
matic pains indicated that the blood was becoming in- 
fected. On that day a telegram was received from 



LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, AND DEATH 351 

Mr. Andrew Carnegie, and about nine o'clock in the 
evening Dr. Watson dictated a reply to Mr. Carnegie, 
" Thanks for your inquiry." This was his last earthW 
message. He then passed into a deep sleep. He spoke 
once or twice to Dr. Laird, who was with him until near 
morning. He then fell asleep again, and from sleep 
drifted into a coma from which he never regained con- 
sciousness. When Dr. Laird called on the Monday 
morning he at once saw that the crisis was at hand, 
and Drs. Smith and Sternberg were hastily sent for. 
It was too late, however, for mortal help, and at a 
quarter past eleven o'clock John Watson passed away. 
He died in the Brazelton Hotel, and he had with him 
day and night the presence of the cherished wife who 
was with him to the very end. 

It does not appear that he was at all conscious of his 
danger. Three days before he died he was up attend- 
ing to business. It was said after his death that he 
had remarked to the physician on his arrival in Iowa, 
" Doctor, this is my last illness." There is no founda- 
tion for this story. He never said anything of the kind 
to his wife. On Sunday he read with the greatest in- 
terest the pathetic story of Edward Everett Hale, The 
Man without a Country, and was strangely touched by 
it. " How dreadful," he said, " to be without a home." 
On Monday morning, as a cup of milk was raised to 
his lips he murmured, " Good, good," and never spoke 
again. During his illness, and especially towards the 
end, he became restless and anxious about Westminster 
College. " Why do they not let me hear ? " he said 
again and again, and became at times depressed. He 



352 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

felt that as Principal he could do great service to the 
Church. 

The Hon. Judge Smjthe, who was travelling on cir- 
cuit and staying at the hotel during the week, was the 
only person who was permitted to see Watson, and a 
strong friendship was established between the two 
men. After the death Judge Smythe cancelled his 
engagements and took care of Mrs. Watson until 
she reached friends in New York. Mrs. Watson 
left by the midnight train on the next day, and a 
large body from the College, with members of the Uni- 
versity acting as pallbearers, were present to wish her 
God-speed. During the short time preceding the ar- 
rival of the train the old College bell tolled off the fifty- 
seven years of Watson's hfe. Just before the train 
arrived and the party were on the platform to await its 
drawing into the station, there rang out sweetly and 
comfortingly on the still night air the strains of the 
hymn, " Nearer, my God, to Thee." 

In anticipation of his election as Principal of West- 
minster College, Dr. Watson had written as foUows to 
the Rev. R. C. Gillie:—. 

TO THE REV. R. C. GILLIE 

April 15th, 1907. 
Dear Gillie, — As the time draws near when the direc- 
tion of my future life is to be decided by other hands than 
mine, I write to thank you for all your loyalty and kind- 
ness, which we can never forget, and to say that I should 
be obliged if you will cable me the result. 

It occurs to me that in the event of my election, some one 
should have power to convey my acceptance, and I also en- 



LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, AND DEATH 353 

close a letter to that effect. This you are authorised to 
read to the Synod, or give to the mover or seconder of my 
name, to read as you judge most fitting. We are both 
well, and making our way through fine scenery to Nash- 
ville, for my lectures on " The Bible in the Pulpit." I 
have had the opportunity of preaching to huge audiences, 
and have received much kindness. 

Many thoughts are in my mind, and I feel myself at the 
disposal of the Highest Power, in ^^^lose Hands I leave 
myself, and with many regrets for the faults of the past, 
and absolute submission for the future. 

With our affectionate regard, yours faithfully, 

John Watson. 

To be read in the event of my election — 

Moderator and Revd. Brethren, — I accept with pro- 
found respect and humility the honourable and responsible 
charge to which the Synod has called me, and I trust by 
the grace of God, so to carry myself that the confidence of 
the Church will be justified, and the highest interests of 
Westminster College be advanced. 

It is with a feeling of deep solemnity that I consecrate 
what remains of my work in life, to the service of the 
College and of the Church. — I am, your obedient and 
grateful servant in Jesus Christ, John Watson. 

It would be utterly impossible for me to give any ade- 
quate account of the universal sorrow with which the 
startling news of his death was received in this country, 
in America, in all the English-speaking lands. Vol- 
umes might be filled with the tributes paid to his beloved 
memory from the pulpit and the press. To his friends 



354 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

it seemed impossible that a personality so charged with 
life and energy should have passed away from them 
in the very fulness and ripeness of his powers. He him- 
self fully believed that the servants of God departed in 
God's chosen time because their work was done. This 
was what he said about his own friend Henry Drum- 
mond, who died earlier. But it was very hard to think 
this about himself. It seemed as if the great work of 
his life was just about to begin. To think of what he 
might have done in Westminster College, as the Presi- 
dent of the National Free Church Council, as an 
author, as a Christian leader, opened a future of mag- 
nificent possibilities. We lost him, as it seemed, when 
he was most precious to us. We saw in him a man who 
could speak to England, and when we most need such a 
man we must look for him no more. He had gathered 
his stores — his strength, his experience, his seriousness, 
his grasp of his own thoughts — and was ready to guide 
us into the new era, and then he was taken from us. It 
was indeed a bitter loss — how bitter we shall realise 
through the days and years. But the thoughts of 
many lingered mostly on the loss of a friend. Many 
of us know that the loss is beyond repair. No new 
friendship can make up for it. Dr. Watson had a 
watchful solicitude for those admitted to his inner cir-r 
cle. He never lost sight of them. He was always 
ready to succour and to comfort at the hour of need; 
he was for ever doing kindnesses, and he appreciated 
and magnified the most trivial kindness to himself as 
very few men ever did. And yet, as his friend Sir 
Oliver Lodge said in brave and heartening words : — 



LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, AND DEATH 355 

The departure of the cheery and invigorating personality 
of John Watson to the other side should not be pver much 
lamented by his friends who remain, in spite of the gap 
which it leaves in the ranks of those who are working for 
the coming of the kingdom. Save for the pang of leaving 
his loved ones solitary for a while, he would welcome the 
transition. He looked forward to a welcome from his 
mother, with whom he had a sacred compact of which he 
occasionally spoke among intimate friends, and which he 
had found a bulwark against early temptation. To his 
mind there was no such impenetrable barrier between the 
two states as is sometimes supposed; and he himself was 
the recipient of intuitions that helped him to be a comfort 
to others. It should be a pleasure to us to realise that he 
worked up to the last minute here, with all his powers and 
strenuous energy unimpaired, and has now gone to continue 
his career of beneficent activity among other and perhaps 
still more efficient conditions. 

Nor could we forget what he wrote himself: — 

The continuity of life lifts the shadow also from another 
mystery — the lives that have been cut off in their prime. 
When one is richly endowed and carefully trained, and has 
come to the zenith of his power, his sudden removal seems a 
reflection on the economy of God's kingdom. According to 
Jesus he has not sunk into inaction, so much subtracted 
from the forces of righteousness. He has gone where the 
fetters of this body of humiliation and embarrassment of 
our adverse circumstances shall be no longer felt. We 
must not think of him as withdrawn from the field ; we must 
imagine him as in the van of the battle. We must follow 
him, our friend, with hope and a high heart. ... As a 



356 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

mother who expects her son from foreign parts would ar- 
range his room to remind him of his boyhood, gathering 
into it the things he loved and the treasures he sent on be- 
fore him, so will the Master reconstruct our life out of the 
kindly circumstances that shall fit into our character and 
work with this difference, that the scale shall be of heaven; 
and place us once more among those we love and have lost 
for a while with only this difference, that we shall not then 
see " through a glass darkly/* but " face to face." 

During his illness he reached after the words of a 
Scottish hymn, " My Ain Countrie," but could not 
quite get them. His physician was able to bring him 
a copy of the verses, and they seemed to give him com- 
fort. The hymn begins with the lines: — 

" I am far frae my hame, an' I'm weary aftenwhiles, 
For the lang'd-for hame-bringing, an' my Father's wel- 
come smiles, 
I'll ne'er be fu' content, until my een do see 
The gowden gates of heaven an' my ain countrie.'* 

He died far from home, but his friends were com- 
forted by the sympathy of the American people, and 
by their knowledge of John Watson's great love for 
America. There never was a Briton more at home in 
America than Watson was. It was a great consolation 
also that his wife was with him at the last, and to the 
last. 

The Synod of his Church, the Presbyterian Church 
of England, assembled on Monday, May 6th. One of 



LAST VISIT TO AMERICA, AND DEATH 357 

the principal items of their business was to elect a new 
Principal for Westminster College, and there can be 
little or no doubt that Watson would have been chosen 
by a large majority. As it was, the news came first 
that he was hanging between life and death, and on 
Tuesday it was known that he had departed. The 
Synod gave expression by a silent vote to their grief 
and reverence for the dead, and Dr. Monro Gibson 
offered up a prayer which expressed worthily the emo- 
tion that filled every heart. It was decided also to 
postpone the appointment for a year. In Liverpool, 
the city of his love, the most poignant sorrow was ex- 
pressed everywhere. 

When the bereaved wife brought home her dead hus- 
band, all hearts went out to her. Nothing but a public 
funeral would satisfy the community in which Dr. 
Watson laboured. The Lord Mayor came forward 
with the proposal, and it was accepted eagerly and with 
one consent. It was felt, as Sir Edward Russell said, 
that Dr. Watson's death was not merely a personal loss, 
but that it made a great gap in the social structure. 
All denominations and all parties joined in the tribute. 
At the funeral a great and worthy tribute of grief was 
paid by the city to the dead minister. The number of 
mourners and spectators would not have fallen short of 
sixty thousand. The services conducted by the Rev. A. 
Connell, the Rev. J. H. Scott, the Rev. Principal Os- 
wald Dykes, who delivered an address ; the Rev. Dr. 
Stalker, and Dr. Rendel Harris, were marked by the 
deepest emotion. Those who were present can never 
forget the reality of the grief manifested everywhere. 



358 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

It was as if each individual were mourning a personal 
loss. The cortege from Sefton Park Church to the 
Smithdown Cemetery was headed by the Bishop and 
the Lord Mayor. Crowds lined the roads the whole way 
to the grave, and at the cemetery gates no fewer than 
thirty thousand were present. It was an almost un.- 
paralleled tribute of love to a Christian minister, and 
indicated not only the wide influence exerted by Dr. 
Watson, but the reality of Christian Union. Long be- 
fore. Dr. Watson had said to his former assistant, the 
Rev. J. M. Blake of WalHngton : " If I had been a 
General, I should like to feel that the men who had 
fought close by me would carry my coffin to the grave, 
and on it I should like my sword and any orders I had 
won. As it is, I should like my old colleagues to act 
as pall-bearers and to have upon my coffin just my 
M.A. hood which I really won, and a simple cross of 
white flowers." Of his ten assistants eight were able 
to be present, and they laid him in his grave. By the 
grave, forming three sides of a great square, were the 
Liverpool Scottish Volunteers, and when the Bishop of 
Liverpool had pronounced the Benediction, two pipers 
of the Scottish played the sorrowful lament, " Loch- 
aber no More." Memorial sermons were preached by 
Professor Stalker and the Rev. R. C. Gillie of East- 
bourne, formerly his assistant and always his intimate 
friend. 



CHAPTER XXI 

CONCLUSION 

The distinguishing characteristic of John Watson was 
perhaps his great humanness. It was said of him at 
his death that nearly every man on the streets of Liv- 
erpool was more or less affected or interested in the 
loss. The Rev. T. Lund, Chaplain of the Blind Asy- 
lum, Liverpool, says that he was returning home late 
at night when an electric car pulled up, and the driver, 
white with emotion, leant over the rail. " Have you 
heard the news.? " he said. " John Watson is dead ; it is 
a bad day for us." He had touched the community at 
many points. There was no officialism about him. He 
met his fellow-men simply and frankly with a steady 
and sure sympathy. He had not a few intimate 
friends among the aristocracy, and many more among 
the poor, and he was equally at home with both classes. 
He was not one of those who say war to the castle, peace 
to the cottage, but one of those who say peace to the 
cottage and peace to the castle. Wherever he trav- 
elled he talked with those whom he met, and he would 
frequently be so engrossed in conversation with the con- 
ductor of a tramcar that he had to be reminded of his 
destination. Nothing fretted him like casualness. He 
complained bitterly of the slackness of brother min- 
isters in failing to answer their letters. Every corre- 
spondent received from him an immediate answer. His 

359 



360 LIFE OF IAN ]\IACLAREN 

very foibles were intensely human. It was impossible 
for him to patronise any one. He was, in spite of his 
many labours, the most accessible of men. With this 
went a large generosity. His assistants, whom he in- 
variably treated as his colleagues and more than his 
equals, knew most about this. One of them writes : — 

When the pressure of work was very heavy, or when his 
secretary was unwell, we aided in his correspondence. As 
might be imagined it was enormous, and letters begging for 
help in various forms bulked largely in it. Never to my 
knowledge did he leave one of these multitudinous epistles 
unanswered. Most of them came without any stamp for 
reply, but that did not make any difference, and to any ap- 
peal which he felt to be genuine he sent whatever help was 
in his power. It was not merely monetary help that he 
would send, but he would grudge no amount of private 
trouble by which a deserving case might be assisted. 

Mr. Grant Paton, a Liverpool elder, said : " Dr. 
Watson has often come to me and asked, ' Do you know 
of any poor brother who would be the better for a £5 
note.'* Because if you do, I have it ready.' And many 
a £5 note have I had from John Watson to give to one 
of his poorer brethren." The greater part of this 
charity was quite unknown. He rarely spoke con- 
temptuously of any one's views or methods. When 
Evan Roberts, the Welsh revivalist, was holding his 
meetings at Liverpool, a fellow clergyman spoke dis- 
paragingly of his efforts to Watson, who repHed: 
" Well, I don't know anything about that, but remem- 
ber we don't draw these audiences, so let us keep quiet." 



CONCLUSION 361 

He was present himself with Roberts on the platform 
a few weeks after. When Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alex- 
ander were conducting their mission in Liverpool, a 
wave of criticism swept over them. One afternoon Wat- 
son attended a service, and the next day a Liverpool 
paper had a warm yet discriminating eulogy on the 
missioners, signed " A City Pastor." The style pro- 
claimed the author, and later on Watson owned to 
having written that kind letter of encouragement. He 
had small patience with criticisms of minor points in a 
man's life, and always tried to look more at the big 
things. For example, when Cecil Rhodes died he ex- 
pressed indignation at what he called " the tomtit opin- 
ions of commonplace pious persons to whom a man's 
faults were of more importance than his Imperial 
achievements." 

Watson's life was one of singular happiness. His 
delight was first in his affections, and after that in his 
labours, and in both he was fortunate beyond most. No 
one who knew his home will ever forget his chivalrous 
devotion to his wife, or the light and affectionate ban- 
ter that passed between him and his four sons. He was 
also exceedingly rich in friendships, and these he assid- 
uously cultivated. A fairly happy day with Watson 
was one spent in diligent work. A perfectly happy 
day was one in which after strenuous labour came the 
longed-for bright, stimulating intercourse with the 
well-known circle. He was not exempt from the ordi- 
nary trials of ministerial hfe, and the opposition and 
criticism of those belonging to his Church plunged him 



S62 LIFE OF lAX MACLAREX 

into the deepest depression. A kind word from any of 
his people, or any of his brother ministers, was appre- 
ciated far more than any newspaper eulogy. Regard- 
ing literature as a subordinate proyince of his actiyitj, 
he was amused rather than annoyed by attacks, and 
humbly deprecated praise. It is true that he had the 
Celtic fear of the future. He saw in serenity some- 
thing sweet and yet menacing. But he was mercifully 
exempted from the greater trials of life. He lost his 
mother when he was twenty-one, and his fatlier when 
he was twenty-eight, but his wife and all his children 
were spared to liim. It was a happy thing that one 
whose affections were so hea^*ily committed was spared 
the trials which giye life an abiding flayour of sorrow, 
for Watson was a man who could haye died of orrief. 
He continued his labour to the yery end, and had not 
to drink the tliickening dregs of existence. 

Watson was extraordinarily diligent, and in the lat- 
ter part of his life morbidly so. The sense of duty in 
him was so strong that he could hardly say no. When 
asked to preach or to write, it seemed to him as if he 
must comply, and much of his work was done in ex- 
treme weariness, though to the last he seemed to retain 
his old yiyacity and fire. It puzzled many of his 
friends to understand why he should take so many jour- 
neys, and do so much work that hardly seemed worth 
the price he paid for it. Indeed his labours in trayel- 
ling, preaching, and lecturing apparently hastened his 
death. His actiyities might be described as restless 
and feyerish. I haye seen him often after an exciting 



CONCLUSION 363 

day go to bed in the early morning. He would appear 
at breakfast as vivacious and blithe as if he had done 
nothing. The moment breakfast was over he would 
take up his task and persevere with it till it was accom- 
plished. Then he would go out to luncheon to be the 
chief guest of a company which simply basked in his 
presence. He would pass from that to a round of vis- 
iting; he would come in tired, and at dinner be the life 
and soul of the guests. He would go out from that to 
a public engagement, and on his return he would carry 
on a conversation till three o'clock in the morning. 
This would go on for weeks at a time, varied only by 
the Sunday and by incessant railway travelling. Li 
America he often put in three addresses in one day. 

If these labours hastened his death we may be sure 
that his hfe was not thrown away wittingly. He held 
that a man should keep his strength and be careful of 
his verve, so that neither the one nor the other should 
become weary. But Watson could never properly dis- 
tinguish between work and play. It must be remem- 
bered also that this kind of work was a great pleasure 
to him. His humanness made it delightful for him to 
meet men and women, and to make new friends. He 
joyfully accepted invitations from strangers, and by 
the time he had left them they were no longer strangers. 
The warm hand-grasps and expressions of kindness 
which he received as he travelled encouraged and 
strengthened him. Before leaving Liverpool for his 
last journey, he was examined by a doctor who pro- 
nounced his heart absolutely sound. He judged him- 
self physically quite fit for the labour he undertook, 



364 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

and even those who watched him most anxiously had to 
acknowledge that his power of recuperation was mar- 
vellous. We have seen with what strenuous vitality he 
discharged his duties as student, as preacher, and as 
pastor. 

John Watson's absorbing interest in life was the re- 
ligious interest. He was first and foremost a servant 
of the Church of Christ, and in his judgment his work 
was done there. A biographer is bound to record his 
subject's judgment on himself, but he is not bound to 
agree with it. I had always difficulty in understanding 
Watson's insistent classification of himself as a Mod- 
erate. He was certainly a Moderate in so far as he 
strove to combine religious life with intellectual activ- 
ity. He was a Moderate in the sense that he gave a 
great place to humanism, and also in the sense that he 
had no sympathy with many of the restrictions which 
the old Evangelicalism placed upon conduct. But if 
Moderatism means, as Mrs. Oliphant says, an easy sat- 
isfaction with the respectable fulfilment of necessary 
duties and an absence of strenuous religious feeling, 
then certainly Watson was no moderate. All the 
sparkle and effervescence of his nature never concealed 
the fact that he was a profoundly religious man. Here 
again I quote from one of his assistants : — 

His humility was also shown in the very low estimate he 
had of his pulpit powers. No great preacher was ever less 
elated on a Sunday night than was he. After one of his 
most brilliant sermons he would go home covered with 
shame, because he felt his service had been so poor and 



CONCLUSION 365 

ineffectual. This depression was almost habitual at the 
time of his resignation. His Celtic temperament doubtless 
had something to do with it; but it was equally caused by 
his sense of personal unworthiness. He was filled with 
great searchings of heart as he conscientiously reviewed his 
ministerial life, and they would sometimes break into 
speech ; and by this we knew something of the secret ordeal 
of judgment through which he was passing, for it was very 
unlike him to speak much of the sacred intimacies of his 
inner life. 

To me it seemed that of all Dr. Watson's religious 
convictions, one to which he most constantly returned 
was that of the immortal hope. Since George Macdon- 
ald there has been no such prophet of immortality. 
The vision always before his eyes was that of a heaven 
peopled with the crowding guests of God. Though he 
strove very hard to present the Christian ideas in the 
forms of his own mind and age, and to discard out- 
worn words and phrases, though he wrote like a mod- 
ern as his fathers and even the schoolmen did in their 
day, he was evermore convinced that in the end theology 
reverts to its broad immemorial features and the New 
Testament language. He was convinced of the empti- 
ness of all human desires and eff*orts if they end in 
death. And if he tried to penetrate the veil of terrible 
mist that hangs between us and the future, it was not 
to re-enforce his own faith. He was perhaps not per- 
fectly consistent in his views. It was his manner to 
give his convictions hospitable lodging in his mind 
where they had to get on together as best they could. 
But he had much of the mystic's certainty. Those 



S66 LIFE OF IAN MACLAREN 

who really knew him were aware of liis wistful interest 
in mystical writings, and of the strength of his spir- 
itual intuitions. These are perhaps best expressed in 
his book, The Companions of the Sorrowful Way. 

Sensitive to the difficulties of his time, he was yet 
an optimist. " The day in which we are living is the 
best yet known, and our children will live in a better," 
he said in his last sermon in Sefton Park. And when 
interviewed in America and asked, " Do you think the 
w orld is getting better morally ? " he answered : " The 
condition of the people is getting better morally and 
physically. There is a great deal of unsettlement of 
religious thought, and I believe there will be a great 
change in forms of dogma, but the great fundamental 
truths will remain. Faith is not failing." In his later 
years Dr. Watson gave much time to the study of 
Church liistory, and like Lightfoot, he drew from it a 
message of cheer. He came to realise the life of the 
Divine Society. Christ, he conceived, had promised to 
be with His Church in the blaze of noon, in the dark, or 
in the twilight between the two, wherein mainly the 
course of her journey lies. He saw how the Church had 
seemed to perish, how her defenders had seemed to be 
confounded, and yet how truly the Lord's promise had 
been kept. He perceived how these alarms, and fore- 
bodings, and prophecies of dissolution that often shake 
the hearts of the faithful, drop into insignificance in the 
course of that vast history wliich has not fulfilled them. 



LIST OF WORKS 



REV. JOHN WATSON, D.D 

The Order of Service for young People, 

The Mind of the Master, . 

The Upper Room, 

The Cure of Souls, 

The Potter's Wheel, . 

Companions of the Sorrowful Way, 

Doctrines of Grace, 

The Life of the Master, 

Homely Virtues, 

The Inspiration of our Faith, 

The Scot of the Eighteenth Century, 

God's Message to the Human Soul, . 



1895 
1896 
1896 
1896 
1898 
1898 
1900 
1901 
1903 
1905 
1907 
1907 



IAN MACLAREN 

Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush, 1894« 

The Days of Auld Lang Syne, 1895 

A Doctor of the Old School, 1895 

Kate Carnegie and those Ministers, .... 1896 

Afterwards and other Stories, 1899 

Rabbi Saunderson, . . . . . . . 1899 

Church Folks, 1901 

Young Barbarians, 1901 

His Majesty Baby, and some Common People, . 1902 

St. Jude's, 1907 

Graham of Claverhouse, 1908 



867 



3U.77-4 



Prese' 



